Community Profile

City of Grand Rapids

Grand Rapids, MI

David LaGrand

Mayor

Pledge Summary

Grand Rapids is a city in west Michigan with a population of nearly 200,000. Grand Rapids resides along the Grand River and is just under 30 miles from the shores of Lake Michigan. Mayor LaGrand is committed to working to protect monarch butterflies and other native pollinators by signing the Mayors’ Monarch Pledge and supporting the ongoing pollinator conservation efforts by groups in the Grand Rapids community. Mayor LaGrand recognizes the important role played by the Upper Midwest in providing crucial summer habitat for monarch butterflies in their annual journey, and through this pledge seeks to highlight the role we can play in protecting this iconic species.

Community Spotlight

Action Items Committed for 2026

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.)
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.
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.
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).
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).
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.
Host or support a monarch butterfly festival that is accessible to all residents in the community and promotes monarch and pollinator conservation, as well as cultural awareness and recognition.

Past Pledge Archive

Mayor Name	Program Year	Pledge Date	Achievement
Mayor David LaGrand	2026	3/30/2026		View Pledge
Mayor David LaGrand	2025	4/30/2025	Leadership Circle	View Pledge

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Pledge Date

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