The National Wildlife Federation

Community Profile

Pledge Status

Active

Pledge Date

Wednesday, March 27, 2024

Program Year

2024

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Action Item Report

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Village of Mundelein

Mundelein, IL

Steve Lentz

Mayor

Pledge Summary

Mundelein is a vibrant and progressive community of nearly 32,000 residents. The Village is located in the center of beautiful Lake County Illinois, one of the strongest areas of commercial and industrial growth in the nation, with excellent housing, recreational, educational and business opportunities. In terms of beautification and outdoor recreation, Mundelein's award-winning park district oversees 33 neighborhood parks, 5 golf courses, Barefoot Bay Waterpark, and Diamond Lake Beach, to name just a few amenities. Mundelein also has an extensive network of bike trails, walking paths, and a transit-oriented and walkable downtown--one of the Village's focus areas. Mundelein's Beautification Committee, established in 2021, recognizes the importance of saving monarchs and commits to planning activities to engage the public in this endeavor. Some activities include seed distribution, educational seminars, Spring into Summer Festival, and planting pollinator habitats in public spaces.

Community Spotlight

Action Items Committed for 2024

Communications and Convening

  • 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 community garden groups and urge them to plant native milkweeds and nectar-producing plants.
  • 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 developers, planners, landscape architects, and other community leaders and organizers engaged in planning processes to identify opportunities to create monarch habitat.
  • 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.
  • Convert vacant lots to monarch habitat.
  • 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.

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.
  • Launch, expand, or continue an effort to change municipal planting ordinances and practices to include more native milkweed and native nectar producing plants at city properties.
  • Integrate monarch butterfly conservation into the city’s Park Master Plan, Sustainability Plan, Climate Resiliency Plan or other city plans.