Community Profile

Pledge Status

Request for More Info

Pledge Date

Wednesday, January 5, 2022

Program Year

2022

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Action Item Report

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Township of Zorra

Township of Zorra, ON

Marcus Ryan

Mayor

Pledge Summary

As a result of a delegation by residents Penny Poole and Patti Wallace, Council unanimously challenged me to make the Mayors' Monarch Butterfly Pledge. I'm very happy to. This comes a few years after A.J. Baker students asked for property to plant Monarch Way Stations around the Township. Zorra is an environmentally conscious community, are good stewards of our natural environment and we protect our environment by valuing our natural assets and using our resources wisely. So, as with so many other issues, Zorra speaks not only through words and commitments, but through actions: by doing our part. I'm happy to say that of the 29 action items possible, Zorra Council has chosen to fulfill 14. Nine of the items were completed in 2021 and the remaining five will be completed in 2022.

Community Spotlight

Action Items Committed for 2022

Communications and Convening

  • Create a community art project to enhance and promote monarch and pollinator conservation as well as cultural awareness and recognition.
  • Create a community-driven educational conservation strategy, initiative, or practice that focuses on and benefits local, underserved residents.
  • Engage with developers, planners, landscape architects, and other community leaders and organizers engaged in planning processes to identify opportunities to create monarch habitat.

Program and Demonstration Gardens

  • 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).

Systems Change

  • Increase the percentage of native plants, shrubs and trees that must be used in city landscaping ordinances and encourage use of milkweed, where appropriate.