The National Wildlife Federation

Community Profile

Pledge Status

Active

Pledge Date

Friday, March 31, 2023

Program Year

2023

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Action Item Report

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Village of Schaumburg

Schaumburg, IL

Tom Dailly

Village President

Pledge Summary

The Village of Schaumburg is located about 20 miles northwest of the City of Chicago having a population of about 75,000 people. Schaumburg is in the largest center of economic development in the State of Illinois, outside the City of Chicago. The Village has committed to the preservation of the monarch butterfly by incorporating meaningful opportunities to support the monarch in the Comprehensive Plan, Comprehensive Green Action Plan, local codes, policies, and procedures. The Village enjoys a partnership with the Schaumburg Park District, Schaumburg Township District Library, and many residents who support these initiatives.

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.
  • 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 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

  • Initiate or support community science (or citizen science) efforts that help monitor monarch migration and health.
  • 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.
  • Facilitate or support a milkweed seed collection and propagation effort.
  • 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.
  • Remove milkweed from the list of noxious plants in city weed / landscaping ordinances (if applicable).