City of Gastonia
Gastonia, NC
Richard Frank
Summary for 2025
Gastonia, N.C., just minutes west of Charlotte, is one of the area’s best places to live and work with an ideal combination of location, size and livability. Gastonia is the largest of Gaston County’s 13 municipalities and one of the largest cities in the Charlotte metropolitan area with over 80,000 citizens. Selected as an All-America City three times, Gastonia’s desirable quality of life is the result of its beautiful natural surroundings, friendly neighborhoods, responsive government and vibrant business environment. The City of Gastonia has a commitment to protect our natural resources through our Bee City USA Affiliation, Tree City USA Affiliation and now through the Mayor's Monarch Pledge.
City of Cooper City
Cooper City, FL
James Curran
Summary for 2025
Cooper City is a lovely bedroom community in Broward County with approximately 35,000+ residents, founded in 1959 by Morris Cooper. Many families and young professionals live here due to their excellent school system, safe environment and quality sports programs. Cooper City takes great pride in their well maintained mature tree canopy evidenced by their City logo which is a tree with the words "Someplace Special". This extensive tree canopy provides tremendous amounts of wildlife habitat.
City of Adel
Adel, IA
Jim Peters
Summary for 2025
We have completed butterfly gardens in our dog park. We want to continue to plant and maintain monarch friendly plantings in our road boulevards and right of ways.
Village of Algonquin
Algonquin, IL
Debby Sosine
Summary for 2025
Algonquin is a town in the northwest suburbs of Chicago with a population of roughly 30,000.The city is nestled in the Fox River valley and is home to over 430 acres of restored natural area. President Sosine of Algonquin, IL has committed to saving the Monarch butterfly and other pollinators with the signing of the Mayors' Monarch Pledge and looks forward to engaging the community in establishing more pollinator habitat throughout the Village.
Town of Normal
Normal, IL
Chris Koos
Summary for 2025
The Town of Normal, home of Illinois State University, is located in Central Illinois. The northern two-thirds of the state was originally covered by prairie land. And while Illinois is known as "The Prairie State," most of the state's prairies are gone as the majority were converted to agricultural fields. The monarch butterfly, the state insect, had lived on these prairies. Milkweed and other flowering plants are needed to help restore the lost prairie habitat. The Town of Normal is committed to preserving and restoring native prairie plantings that serves both as an aesthetic and recreational amenity while providing wildlife habitat, especially for the monarch butterfly.
Village of Winnetka
Winnetka, IL
Chris Rintz
Summary for 2025
Nestled along Lake Michigan’s North Shore, Winnetka is a community of tree-lined streets, sandy beaches, renowned schools, outstanding parks, quality recreation facilities, and plentiful non-profit and religious organizations. Natural beauty brought early settlers, but through careful planning, Winnetka has maintained a historic, small town charm, as well as family-oriented neighborhoods, while developing into a thriving village for people to live, work, and visit. The village commits to creating habitat for the monarch butterfly and pollinators, and to educating residents about how they can make a difference at home and in our community.
City of Charlotte
Charlotte, NC
Vi Lyles
Summary for 2025
The City of Charlotte provides services to nearly 900,000 residents. The city’s focus areas are Community Safety, Housing and Neighborhood Development, Economic Development, Environment and Transportation & Planning. Charlotte is guided by the following mission: "Charlotte will lead as a global city by continuously improving, protecting, and preserving the environment, its community, and economy, while ensuring equity and resilience - for today’s and future generations." In addition, the Charlotte Future 2040 Comprehensive Plan, adopted in 2021, states: "Charlotte will protect and enhance its surface water quality, tree canopy, and natural areas with a variety of trees, plantings, green infrastructure, green building practices, and open space at different scales throughout the entire community as a component of sustainable city infrastructure that addresses the threat of climate change." Lastly, in 2018, Charlotte City Council unanimously adopted the Strategic Energy Action Plan, and since then Charlotte has been taking bold action to strive towards a low-carbon, sustainable, resilient and equitable future.
City of Covington
Covington, KY
Ron Washington
Summary for 2025
Covington, located in Northern Kentucky across the river from Cincinnati, is home to over 40,000 residents and the beautiful 700-acre Devou Park, known for its prairies and pollinator gardens. The city also features pollinator gardens throughout its parks, showcasing a strong commitment to environmental conservation. In 2017, Covington joined the Mayor’s Monarch Pledge under former Mayor Joseph Meyer, launching efforts to support pollinator habitats. Mayor Ron Washington has proudly continued this legacy, reaffirming the city’s pledge in 2025 and leading the charge with the Community Monarch Coalition to expand gardens and implement impactful conservation initiatives.
City of Warren
Warren, MI
Lori Stone
Summary for 2025
Warren Michigan is the most vibrant city in the state of Michigan. While being the third largest city in the State, we believe that Warren has to set the tone for beautiful parks, and extraordinary opportunities to save the monarch butterfly and other pollinators. Mayor Stone is not only committed to educating Warren residents about the importance of having pollinator habitat in the City of Warren, but also getting our residents engaged in maintaining a strong presence with the Mayor’s Monarch Pledge.
Village of Northbrook
Northbrook, IL
Kathryn Ciesla
Summary for 2025
The Village of Northbrook is a northern suburb of Chicago with a population of over 35,000. We are proud to be the home of some of the highest quality nature preserves in Illinois: Somme Preserves. Thanks to our volunteer ecological stewards who have been dedicated to natural restoration in our area since the 1970s, many rare plants and endangered animals nest or pass by our community during migratory periods. Through the Northbrook Climate Action Plan, the Village is committed to reducing community-wide carbon emissions and fostering environmental sustainability.
