Community Profile

Pledge Status

Complete

Pledge Date

Friday, January 15, 2021

Program Year

2021

Achievement

Leadership Circle

2021

Links and Uploads

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Action Item Report

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Palos Heights

Palos Heights, IL

Robert Straz

Mayor

Pledge Summary

This will be our 5th year that the city of Palos Heights is committing the Mayors' Monarch Pledge. We have conducted a variety of actions over the years as part of our commitment including planting pollinator gardens, restoring landscapes, and educational programs, events and outreach. We are excited to continue this effort in 2022 to help the beleaguered Monarch butterfly with a variety of new restoration efforts and educational programs.

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 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.

Program and Demonstration Gardens

  • Host or support a native seed or plant sale, giveaway or swap.
  • Facilitate or support a milkweed seed collection and propagation effort.
  • 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).
  • Add or maintain native milkweed and nectar-producing plants in gardens in the community.
  • Launch, expand, or continue an invasive species removal program that will support the re-establishment of native habitat for monarch butterflies and other pollinators.
  • 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.