Community Profile

Pledge Status

Complete

Pledge Date

Monday, April 11, 2022

Program Year

2022

Achievement

Leadership Circle

2022

Links and Uploads

View Links and Uploads

Action Item Report

View Report
Download Report

Village of Ardsley

Ardsley, NY

Nancy Kaboolian

Mayor

Pledge Summary

The Village of Ardsley is located in Westchester County, New York and has a population of over 5,000 residents. The Village is committed to and already taken many actions to help the monarch butterfly including increasing public awareness of the issue and encouraging residents to build gardens for monarchs. The Village has launched the Ardsley Pollinator Pathway Project to help save endangered pollinators. The Village is aware of the importance of saving monarchs and other pollinators, and believes that encouraging the expansion of native plantings will not only benefit monarchs but all native species, as well as providing natural and beautiful spaces for Village residents.

Community Spotlight

Action Items Committed for 2022

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 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.
  • Create a community art project to enhance and promote monarch and pollinator conservation as well as cultural awareness and recognition.
  • 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.
  • Facilitate or support a milkweed seed collection and propagation effort.
  • 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.
  • 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).
  • 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.
  • Display educational signage at monarch gardens and pollinator habitat.