Community Profile

Pledge Status

Complete

Pledge Date

Thursday, January 21, 2021

Program Year

2021

Achievement

Leadership Circle

2021

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Action Item Report

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Village of Hawthorn Woods

Hawthorn Woods, IL

Dominick DiMaggio

Mayor

Pledge Summary

The Village of Hawthorn Woods, Illinois, located just 35 miles north of the City of Chicago with approximately 8,350 residents, is an upscale, friendly “rural by design” community. As a certified Bee City USA affiliate and an International Dark Sky Community, the Village is fiercely committed to protecting our natural resources, boasting twenty-three park sites and two pollinator habitats – Brierwoods Preserve and our newly dedicated Meadowlark Park and Arboretum. Mayor Dominick DiMaggio of the Village of Hawthorn Woods, Illinois, has committed to saving the Monarch butterfly and other pollinators with the signing of the Mayors’ Monarch Pledge and looks forward to expanding pollinator environments throughout the community.

Community Spotlight

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Leo and Naomi Burnett Memorial Garden

The Leo and Naomi Burnett Memorial Garden, as part of the Hawthorn Heritage Outdoor Museum Trail at Community Park, was implemented in July of 2023. The garden is a 1/4-acre native pollinator habitat.

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.
  • 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.

Program and Demonstration Gardens

  • Host or support a native seed or plant sale, giveaway or swap.
  • Convert vacant lots to monarch habitat.
  • 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

  • Integrate monarch butterfly conservation into the city’s Park Master Plan, Sustainability Plan, Climate Resiliency Plan or other city plans.
  • Launch, expand, or continue one or more ordinances to reduce light pollution to benefit urban wildlife.