Pledge Status
Active
Pledge Date
Friday, March 22, 2024
Program Year
2024
Links and Uploads
View Links and UploadsAction Item Report
Community Spotlight
An Interactive Monarch Release event in Melita
This is a photo of our Interactive Monarch Release Event in Melita Central Park, Summer of 2020. Danial and Natasha Forster from Monarch Homestead hosted the event and brought over 100 tagged Monarchs to be released to start their migration south!
Monarchs on Main Street Project 2020
This photo is taken on Melita's Main-street looking North towards our local grocery store. Melita planted 10 main-street planters with an "Ice Ballet" variant of Swamp Milkweed. Needless to say it was loved by our local Monarchs and people alike!
Mayor and Councillor Releasing Monarchs
Our Mayor Bill Holden and Councillor Eric Forster releasing Monarch Butterflies in front of the Town Office in celebration of our first year taking the Mayoral Monarch Pledge.
First public Monarch Release in Melita 2017
This is a newspaper article of our first Monarch Release event we held in Melita Central Park, we also offered free Milkweed seeds to increase habitat and everyone had a great time!
Early morning Monarch Caterpillar on wild milkweed
Our residents are always snapping pictures and finding Monarchs on Milkweed whether it is locally planted or growing wild, Monarchs are here in abundance!
Monarchs in town Office
Two Monarch Chrysalis' were brought to the town office to help show the support for the Mayoral Monarch Pledge, everyone was anticipating their eclosure as Butterflies very soon!
Action Items Committed for 2024
- Issue a proclamation to raise awareness about the decline of the monarch butterfly and the species’ need for habitat. This proclamation must incorporate a focus on monarch conservation.
- Launch or maintain a public communication effort to encourage residents to plant monarch gardens at their homes or in their neighborhoods. (If you have community members who speak a language other than English, we encourage you to also communicate in that language; Champion Pledges must communicate in that language.)
- Engage with gardening leaders and partners (e.g., Master Naturalists, Master Gardeners, Nature Centers, Native Plant Society Chapters , other long-standing and influential community leaders) to support monarch butterfly conservation.
- Engage with Homeowners Associations (HOAs), Community Associations or neighborhood organizations to identify opportunities to plant monarch gardens and revise maintenance and mowing programs.
- Create a community-driven educational conservation strategy, initiative, or practice that focuses on and benefits local, underserved residents.
- Create a community art project to enhance and promote monarch and pollinator conservation as well as cultural awareness and recognition.
- Host or support a native seed or plant sale, giveaway or swap.
- Facilitate or support a milkweed seed collection and propagation effort.
- Plant or maintain a monarch and pollinator-friendly demonstration garden at City Hall or another prominent or culturally significant community location.
- Plant milkweed and pollinator-friendly native nectar plants along roadsides, medians, or public rights-of-way.
- Launch or maintain an outdoor education program(s) (e.g., at schools, after-school programs, community centers and groups) that builds awareness and creates habitat by engaging students, educators, and the community in planting native milkweed and pollinator-friendly native nectar plants (i.e., National Wildlife Federation’s Schoolyard Habitats program and Monarch Mission curriculum).
- Earn or maintain recognition for being a wildlife-friendly city by participating in other wildlife and habitat conservation efforts (i.e., National Wildlife Federation’s Community Wildlife Habitat program).
- Initiate or support community science (or citizen science) efforts that help monitor monarch migration and health.
- Add or maintain native milkweed and nectar-producing plants in gardens in the community.
- Host or support a monarch butterfly festival that is accessible to all residents in the community and promotes monarch and pollinator conservation, as well as cultural awareness and recognition.
- Display educational signage at monarch gardens and pollinator habitat.
Past Pledge Archive
| Mayor Name | Program Year | Pledge Date | Achievement | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mayor William Holden | 2024 | 3/22/2024 | View Pledge | |
| Mayor William Holden | 2023 | 3/30/2023 | Leadership Circle | View Pledge |
| Mayor William Holden | 2022 | 4/1/2022 | Leadership Circle | View Pledge |
| Mayor William Holden | 2021 | 12/17/2020 | Signatories | View Pledge |
