Community Profile

Pledge Summary

Sterling Heights supports pollinators—including monarch butterflies—through dedicated habitat creation, education, and city-wide native planting. At James C. Nelson Park, the City established a Community Garden with more than 100 beds, native planting areas, a microforest, a bee apiary, and a Butterfly Conservatory that includes monarchs among its native species, alongside the Clinton River Pollinator Pathway Children’s Garden. The City’s voter-approved Pathway to Play and Preservation program (Nov. 5, 2024) advances preservation of green space and reforestation of the community tree canopy, including land acquisition tools such as a land bank and conservation easements to protect open space. Sterling Heights’ urban forestry program (DPW) has earned 26 consecutive Tree City USA awards and supports ongoing street-tree planting and replacement. Regional green infrastructure work in Sterling Heights (Sterling Relief Drain retrofit) has added extensive native pollinator plantings and created a multi-mile butterfly flyway intended to attract monarchs, while also improving stormwater quality.