Community Profile

Pledge Status

Active

Pledge Date

Wednesday, April 15, 2026

Program Year

2026

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City of Dallas

Dallas, TX

Eric Johnson

Mayor

Pledge Summary

Dallas, Texas is a large and fast‑growing metropolitan city with a population of about 1.33 million residents. The city maintains an extensive park system with more than 21,000 acres of parkland, including hundreds of parks, lakes, ponds, and nearly 180 miles of trails. These green spaces play an increasingly important role in supporting biodiversity, recreation, and quality of life for Dallas residents. Because Dallas sits along a major monarch butterfly migration flyway, the city has made pollinator conservation a priority. Through efforts such as the Mayor’s Monarch Pledge, revised mowing practices, native plant gardens, and reductions in pesticide use, the city is restoring and expanding habitat for monarchs and other pollinators. Dallas Park and Recreation staff work alongside volunteers, community groups, and organizations like the Master Naturalists and the Native Plant Society to build and maintain gardens, distribute native plants, and educate the public. Together, these city‑led and community‑driven initiatives help strengthen pollinator populations, increase access to nature, and enhance ecological health throughout Dallas—improving the overall well‑being of both people and wildlife.

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Community Spotlight

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Update to Dallas Parks IPM Plan

In 2023, the Dallas Park and Recreation Department start and should complete a review of the Department's Integrated Pest Management (IPM) plan. This effort should lead to more environmentally friendly practices.

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2023 BioBlitz Plant Surveys

In 2023, Community Scientists entered over 1,100 species of plants including 10 species of milkweed or milkweed associates. This is critical to pollinator conservation.

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Prairie Management 2023

The City of Dallas continues to work on the management and restoration of ~200 acres of blackland prairie. Prairie units are critical to pollinator conservation.

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Parks Conservation Team

In 2023, the Park and Recreation Department hired a second biologist, and Supervisor-Pesticide Applicator. These new positions will help implement plans like the updated IPM plan, Urban Forest Master Plan, and CECAP habitat initiatives.

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Conservation Outreach 2023

City staff conducted over 50 presentations on a variety of conservation topics from local garden clubs to national convention audiences. Topics included pollinator conservation, prairie management, Emerald Ash borer, and natural resource planning.

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Forestry Technical Team

Interdepartmental task force to implement the Urban Forest Master Plan, and coordinate conservation efforts across departments. Coordinates tree planting efforts, conservation related presentations, and works with external stakeholders.

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Action Items Committed for 2026

Communications and Convening

  • Engage with community garden groups and urge them to plant native milkweeds and nectar-producing plants.
  • 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.
  • Engage with developers, planners, landscape architects, and other community leaders and organizers engaged in planning processes to identify opportunities to create monarch habitat.

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.
  • 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).
  • Initiate or support community science (or citizen science) efforts that help monitor monarch migration and health.
  • 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.

Systems Change

  • 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.