Community Profile

City of Knoxville

Knoxville, TN

Indya Kincannon

Mayor

Pledge Summary

Knoxville Tennessee is a progressive and rapidly growing city known for the Sunsphere, vibrant arts scene, rich history, beautiful marble, the University of Tennessee (Go Vols!), the Urban Wilderness, and so much more. The Tennessee River runs through the city and provides beauty as well as a space for water sports like fishing, canoeing, and rowing. Knoxville was once the first capital of the state, is the gateway to the Great Smoky Mountains National park, hosted the 1982 World's Fair, and is now the new home to One Knox Soccer and the Knoxville Smokies! Knoxville is in Knox County Tennessee and has about 199,000 residents and is the third largest City in the state behind Memphis and Nashville. The City has also become a leader in Sustainability. We have electric buses, electric fleet cars, charging stations throughout the city, all of the streetlights were converted to LED about 7 years ago, we have solar panel lots, and we are Certified as a Wildlife Habitat. Taking care of our habitat is important to us. Educating neighbors and creating spaces for the Monarch Butterfly is one piece of this work that we are proud to now engage in. Last year was our first year and our team got so excited about the work, that we will now be doing 4 times the number of action items.

Community Spotlight

Action Items Committed for 2026

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.
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.
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.
Earn or maintain recognition for being a wildlife-friendly city by participating in other wildlife and habitat conservation efforts (i.e., National Wildlife Federation’s Community Wildlife Habitat program).
Host or support a monarch neighborhood challenge to engage neighborhoods and homeowners' associations within the community to increase awareness, support community unity around a common mission, and/or create habitat for the monarch butterfly.
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 ▸

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.

Past Pledge Archive

Mayor Name	Program Year	Pledge Date	Achievement
Mayor Indya Kincannon	2026	2/22/2026		View Pledge
Mayor Indya Kincannon	2025	4/15/2025	Signatories	View Pledge

Pledge Status

Pledge Date

Program Year

Links and Uploads

Action Item Report