Community Profile

Pledge Status

Did Not Report

Pledge Date

Monday, January 29, 2024

Program Year

2024

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Action Item Report

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City of Richland Hills

Richland Hills, TX

Curtis Bergthold

Mayor

Pledge Summary

The City of Richland Hills is a smallish community in the middle of the Dallas - Ft. Worth Metroplex in North Texas. While our 8,600 count population is drawfed by most of the cities in our immediate area, Richland Hills has a large appetite to promote nature, champion sustainability, and choose conservation whenever possible. Our city is located in both the fall and spring migration routes for monarchs. Therefore, both our elected officials and staff pledge to support migrating Monarchs by establishing and maintaining wildlife areas that support their conservation. Additionally, we will offer programs and education to make sure that our community knows how important pollinator, specifically monarch, conservation is for the future.

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.
  • 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 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.

Program and Demonstration Gardens

  • Plant milkweed and pollinator-friendly native nectar plants along roadsides, medians, or public rights-of-way.
  • 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.
  • Display educational signage at monarch gardens and pollinator habitat.

Systems Change

  • Change weed or mowing ordinances to allow for native prairie and plant habitats.
  • Integrate monarch butterfly conservation into the city’s Park Master Plan, Sustainability Plan, Climate Resiliency Plan or other city plans.