Community Profile

Pledge Status

Did Not Report

Pledge Date

Tuesday, April 25, 2023

Program Year

2023

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Action Item Report

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City of Troy

Troy, MI

Ethan Baker

Mayor

Pledge Summary

The Stage Nature Center in Troy, Michigan, is owned by the City of Troy and operated by the Troy Nature Society, is certified as a Monarch Waystation. Every fall we conduct a program to tag and release Monarch Butterflies that is designed to track their location of release/capture and dates. We have the monarch waystation that is certified as such to support monarch habitat. It is basically a garden that is focused on providing plants that support monarch butterflies. This was installed by a girl scout troop several years ago. You can find out more about monarch waystations here: https://www.monarchwatch.org/waystations/ . Staff also does a monarch tag and release program every September with the public. It is part of a large-scale community science program, that is also coordinated though Monarch Watch, to help understand the dynamics of the monarch’s unique fall migration. We tag and release both wild and reared monarchs (that I have raised at the nature center). Here is more info on monarch tagging: https://monarchwatch.org/tagging/index.html#recoveries

Community Spotlight

Action Items Committed for 2023

Communications and Convening

  • 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.
  • Engage with community garden groups and urge them to plant native milkweeds and nectar-producing plants.
  • 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.)

Program and Demonstration Gardens

  • Launch, expand, or continue an invasive species removal program that will support the re-establishment of native habitat for monarch butterflies and other pollinators.
  • 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).
  • Plant or maintain a monarch and pollinator-friendly demonstration garden at City Hall or another prominent or culturally significant community location.
  • Host or support a native seed or plant sale, giveaway or swap.

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 an effort to change municipal planting ordinances and practices to include more native milkweed and native nectar producing plants at city properties.
  • Remove milkweed from the list of noxious plants in city weed / landscaping ordinances (if applicable).