Pledge Status
Active
Pledge Date
Friday, March 24, 2023
Program Year
2023
Links and Uploads
View Links and UploadsAction Item Report
Community Spotlight
Photos of the rescue effort
FWBG|BRIT staff participated in a plant rescue effort with the Northwest ISD Outdoor Learning Center to save milkweed and other native plants before construction commenced on a lot in Northlake, Texas. Milkweeds were transplanted to the Pollinator
Monarch Festival
FWBG|BRIT hosted the annual Monarch Festival on October 23rd. NPSOT and TRWD also participated. We gave out butterfly books, bookmarks with information about native plants, native seeds, reusable straws, and more items! Activities available to kids.
Texas Bee Oasis
An installation by Texas artist Jen Rose featured her hand-crafted Bee Cups that provide water to bees and other pollinators. Texas Bee Oasis was on display in the Fuller Garden of the Fort Worth Botanic Garden from May 2-November 28, 2021.
Plant Sale
FWBG|BRIT held a plant sale on October 7-9, which included many native species. The monarchs were out in force and showing guests exactly which plants they prefer. Staff engaged with guests to encourage the use of native plants.
Community art project
FWBG|BRIT commissioned a local Fort Worth artist, Juan Velazquez, to paint two murals in September that feature pollinators and native plants.
Wasp drinking from Texas Bee Oasis
FWBG|BRIT Facebook post promoting talk by artist Jen Rose
Action Items Committed for 2023
- 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 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 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 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.)
- 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.
- Launch, expand, or continue an invasive species removal program that will support the re-establishment of native habitats for monarch butterflies and other pollinators.
- Add or maintain native milkweed and nectar producing plants in community gardens.
- Initiate or support community science (or citizen science) efforts that help monitor monarch migration and health.
- 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.
- 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 milkweed and pollinator-friendly native nectar plants in medians and public rights-of-way.
- Plant or maintain a monarch and pollinator-friendly demonstration garden at City Hall or another prominent or culturally significant community location.
- Facilitate or support a milkweed seed collection and propagation effort.
- Host or support a native seed or plant sale, giveaway or swap.
- Change ordinances so herbicides, insecticides, or other chemicals used in the community are not harmful to pollinators.
- 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.
- Change weed or mowing ordinances to allow for native prairie and plant habitats.
- Remove milkweed from the list of noxious plants in city weed / landscaping ordinances (if applicable).
- Adopt ordinances that support reducing light pollution.
Past Pledge Archive
| Mayor Name | Program Year | Pledge Date | Achievement | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mayor Mattie Parker | 2023 | 3/24/2023 | View Pledge | |
| Mayor Mattie Parker | 2022 | 3/9/2022 | Leadership Circle | View Pledge |
| Mayor Mattie Parker | 2021 | 5/24/2021 | Leadership Circle | View Pledge |
