Community Profile

Pledge Status

Complete

Pledge Date

Tuesday, March 18, 2025

Program Year

2025

Achievement

2025

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Action Item Report

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Baton Rouge

Baton Rouge, LA

Emile 'Sid' Edwards

Mayor-President

Pledge Summary

As the capital city of Louisiana, Baton Rouge is the heart and soul of the state’s eclectic culture. With over 300 years of history, Baton Rouge has a colorful story to tell, which can be tasted through our culinary offerings, seen through the picturesque views of the Mississippi River and historical landmarks and experienced through the vibrant arts and culture scene. In the “Red Stick,” every day is worth celebrating, even more so through our festivals and events held throughout the year. Our City is full of open spaces and parks, which are welcoming for monarch and other conservation efforts, and we look forward to creating a city that contributes to the monarch population.

Community Spotlight

Action Items Committed for 2025

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.
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 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.
Create a community-driven educational conservation strategy, initiative, or practice that focuses on and benefits local, underserved residents.

Program and Demonstration Gardens ▸

Host or support a native seed or plant sale, giveaway or swap.
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.

Systems Change ▸

Increase the percentage of native plants, shrubs and trees that must be used in city landscaping ordinances and encourage use of milkweed, where appropriate.

Past Pledge Archive

Mayor Name	Program Year	Pledge Date	Achievement
Mayor Sid Edwards	2026	2/23/2026		View Pledge
Mayor-President Emile 'Sid' Edwards	2025	3/18/2025	Leadership Circle	View Pledge
Mayor-President of Baton Rouge /East Baton Rouge Parish Sharon Weston Broome	2024	3/28/2024	Signatories	View Pledge