Community Profile

Pledge Status

Complete

Pledge Date

Friday, April 30, 2021

Program Year

2021

Achievement

Leadership Circle

2021

Links and Uploads

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Action Item Report

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City of Denton

Denton, TX

Gerard Hudspeth

Mayor

Pledge Summary

The City of Denton is a vibrant and growing community with many opportunities, no matter what your interest or passion. Throughout its history, Denton has been known as a university town, home to two state universities, the University of North Texas and Texas Woman’s University. With a combined enrollment of over 50,000 students, the universities bring in a variety of cultural, sports, and entertainment amenities to the Denton community. Since becoming a member of Monarch City USA in 2018, the City of Denton has shown its commitment to protecting these important pollinators in a number of ways. The City has developed and maintained various pollinator gardens, partnered with local organizations to host gardening workshops, and developed outreach events such as the Monarch Madness which takes place in the Fall.

Community Spotlight

Action Items Committed for 2021

Communications and Convening

  • 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 city parks and recreation, public works, sustainability, and other relevant staff to identify opportunities to revise and maintain mowing programs and milkweed / native nectar plant planting programs.
  • 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.
  • Create a community art project to enhance and promote monarch and pollinator conservation as well as cultural awareness and recognition.

Program and Demonstration Gardens

  • Host or support a native seed or plant sale, giveaway or swap.
  • 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).
  • Launch, expand, or continue an invasive species removal program that will support the re-establishment of native habitat for monarch butterflies and other pollinators.

Systems Change

  • Reduce or eliminate the use of herbicides, pesticides, or other chemicals that are harmful to monarchs and pollinators and urban wildlife.
  • Change weed or mowing ordinances to allow for native prairie and plant habitats.
  • Integrate monarch butterfly conservation into the city’s Park Master Plan, Sustainability Plan, Climate Resiliency Plan or other city plans.