Community Profile

Pledge Status

Active

Pledge Date

Sunday, February 8, 2026

Program Year

2026

Links and Uploads

View Links and Uploads

Action Item Report

Download Report

Town of Bedford

Katonah, Bedford Hills, and Bedford, NY

Ellen Calves

Mayor

Pledge Summary

The Town of Bedford, located in Westchester County just north of New York City, spans nearly 40 square miles, with 26% preserved as open land. Bedford has been at the forefront of environmental action on multiple fronts, including waste management and energy efficiency. The town enforces stringent leaf blower regulations and maintains a pesticide-free policy for parks and highways. Several public display gardens, cared for by town employees and dedicated volunteers, serve as models of sustainable landscaping. Additionally, more than 200 residents have committed their properties to the Pollinator Pathway program, supporting vital habitat for pollinators.

42bade17-3ddc-4120-b38c-3b3b29f7c4e3 2b6c009d-e4ff-41e9-8443-a0971936187d 18a2f98c-5719-4341-b85c-66f58b9fe60f 2ce9c6cf-6583-4380-be9b-cfe3afb51c93 8c5eb19d-95b7-4324-8b30-caead6dab895 392e277a-2b23-49b7-a895-145aace981e6 59c61943-a622-4e97-8531-83e0be76118e 8687e599-267c-4b36-b128-cf6e86676850 4affce29-e1c6-42b8-877c-3e6a7ae9546b cec2a6d7-54ac-47b0-a390-d38e3651e2b4 87832c72-e47d-4ffe-95f5-91ab29521f21 9fe0aa51-7d3c-4ed5-b6a3-a14584100f29 b2b658b3-858e-4fd2-8ebd-4d559d509985 1b04959c-af28-40e1-b2a4-ae35fbfc13cc 73d163f7-5dda-4bde-a320-63417800d7b8 4810f3ee-1c3b-42b8-ba84-a542ec7bf8a2 52c62c1f-41e3-458d-9cae-ebc4f0807520 ff12cdef-93a8-41db-8e4d-2cecad8e577c 6e4fd7e3-0c0a-4f8a-b4a8-6a0680205047 ff1d71a2-6504-41d2-bdb4-58ad184d351f 13408442-1016-4bf4-a879-92553f740a02 3ae9a75d-2a02-4100-b602-970e05079b4b cc74776d-d25f-4598-9b51-3a4799ea88ba 4f880401-8ca8-46a1-8471-bf191e91efc1 bf0a9896-7a3c-41f0-9a49-970262c19fff c30c5ef2-4cfa-4057-9077-3022d84cc246 c48a7773-3299-4da8-9b7a-92a4dab664c2

Community Spotlight

Action Items Committed for 2026

Communications and Convening

  • Engage with Homeowners Associations (HOAs), Community Associations or neighborhood organizations to identify opportunities to plant monarch gardens and revise maintenance and mowing programs.
  • 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-driven educational conservation strategy, initiative, or practice that focuses on and benefits local, underserved residents.

Program and Demonstration Gardens

  • 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).
  • Host or support a monarch neighborhood challenge to engage neighborhoods and homeowners' associations within the community to increase awareness, support community unity around a common mission, and/or create habitat for the monarch butterfly.

Systems Change

  • Remove milkweed from the list of noxious plants in city weed / landscaping ordinances (if applicable).
  • Change weed or mowing ordinances to allow for native prairie and plant habitats.
  • 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.
  • Reduce or eliminate the use of herbicides, pesticides, or other chemicals that are harmful to monarchs and pollinators and urban wildlife.
  • Launch, expand, or continue one or more ordinances to reduce light pollution to benefit urban wildlife.