Community Profile

Pledge Status

Complete

Pledge Date

Tuesday, March 21, 2023

Program Year

2023

Achievement

Leadership Circle

2023

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Action Item Report

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Village of Buffalo Grove

Buffalo Grove, IL

Beverly Sussman

Village President

Pledge Summary

Buffalo Grove's Village President has taken the Monarch Pledge, committing to a series of actions aimed at supporting the monarch butterfly population and other pollinators in the village. In partnership with the National Wildlife Federation, the Village of Buffalo Grove, Illinois, will implement various conservation efforts, including habitat creation, educational programs, and community engagement events. By preserving and enhancing local ecosystems, Buffalo Grove is taking important steps towards protecting the environment and ensuring a sustainable future for its residents.

Community Spotlight

Action Items Committed for 2023

Communications and Convening

  • 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.
  • 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.)

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).
  • Plant milkweed and pollinator-friendly native nectar plants along roadsides, medians, or public rights-of-way.
  • Plant or maintain a monarch and pollinator-friendly demonstration garden at City Hall or another prominent or culturally significant community location.
  • Facilitate or support a milkweed seed collection and propagation effort.
  • Host or support a native seed or plant sale, giveaway or swap.

Systems Change

  • Integrate monarch butterfly conservation into the city’s Park Master Plan, Sustainability Plan, Climate Resiliency Plan or other city plans.
  • 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.
  • Increase the percentage of native plants, shrubs and trees that must be used in city landscaping ordinances and encourage use of milkweed, where appropriate.
  • Change weed or mowing ordinances to allow for native prairie and plant habitats.