The National Wildlife Federation

Community Profile

Pledge Status

Active

Pledge Date

Tuesday, March 21, 2023

Program Year

2023

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Action Item Report

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Granbury

Granbury, TX

James Jarratt

Mayor - City of Granbury, Texas

Pledge Summary

Granbury Texas is a city in north Texas, located 35 miles southwest of the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex, with a population of 12, 000. Granbury is located squarely on the monarch butterfly migration route. Mayor Jarratt is keenly interested in energizing the community to roll out the 'Welcome Mat' for migrating Monarch Butterflies through educational programs, an established demonstration garden maintained by Lake Granbury Master Gardeners and a year-'round effort to plant milkweed, culminating in an annual celebration during the migration - Romancing the Monarch Butterfly Festival the first Saturday in October.

Community Spotlight

Action Items Committed for 2023

Communications and Convening

  • Issue a Proclamation to raise awareness about the decline of the monarch butterfly and the species’ need for habitat.
  • Create a community art project to enhance and promote monarch and pollinator conservation as well as cultural awareness and recognition.
  • Engage with developers, planners, landscape architects, and other community leaders and organizers engaged in planning processes to identify opportunities to create monarch habitat.
  • Engage with Homeowners Associations (HOAs), Community Associations or neighborhood organizations to identify opportunities to plant monarch gardens and revise maintenance and mowing 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 community garden groups and urge them to plant native milkweeds and nectar-producing plants.
  • 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

  • Display educational signage at monarch gardens and pollinator habitat.
  • 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.
  • Add or maintain native milkweed and nectar producing plants in community 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 Eco-Schools USA Schoolyard Habitats program and Monarch Mission curriculum).
  • Plant or maintain a monarch and pollinator-friendly demonstration garden at City Hall or another prominent or culturally significant community location.
  • 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.
  • Direct city property managers to consider the use of native milkweed and nectar plants at city properties where possible.
  • Increase the percentage of native plants, shrubs and trees that must be used in city landscaping ordinances and encourage use of milkweed, where appropriate.