Community Profile

Pledge Status

Active

Pledge Date

Saturday, February 21, 2026

Program Year

2026

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Action Item Report

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Village of Sugar Grove

Sugar Grove, IL

Sue Stillwell

Village President

Pledge Summary

In 2025 the Village of Sugar Grove participated in the Mayor's Monarch Pledge by encouraging pollinator gardens around the Village, holding a free class for teaching pollinator garden basics, giving out Butterfly Weed to residents and sharing Milkweed Seeds for children participating in our local Halloween event. This year we plan to encourage pollinator gardens in some of our upcoming new developments, continue adding Milkweed to a 20+ acre habitat area and again share Milkweed with residents for their gardens. We are also adding pollinator plants to our local Veterans Park.

Community Spotlight

Action Items Committed for 2026

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.
  • 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.
  • Convert vacant lots to monarch habitat.
  • Plant milkweed and pollinator-friendly native nectar plants along roadsides, medians, or public rights-of-way.
  • Add or maintain native milkweed and nectar-producing plants in gardens in the community.
  • Display educational signage at monarch gardens and pollinator habitat.

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.
  • Reduce or eliminate the use of herbicides, pesticides, or other chemicals that are harmful to monarchs and pollinators and urban wildlife.