Community Profile

Pledge Status

Complete

Pledge Date

Sunday, April 7, 2024

Program Year

2024

Achievement

Signatories

2024

Links and Uploads

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Action Item Report

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Mount Vernon

Mount Vernon, IA

Thomas Wieseler

Mayor

Pledge Summary

Mt. Vernon has a slowly growing population of 5427 and is a community focusing on all things sustainable.

Community Spotlight

Action Items Committed for 2024

Communications and Convening

  • 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.

Program and Demonstration Gardens

  • Plant or maintain a monarch and pollinator-friendly demonstration garden at City Hall or another prominent or culturally significant community location.

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.