The mayors of Carrboro and Chapel Hill each recently committed to help rebuild the habitat of the rapidly declining monarch butterfly.
This month, Chapel Hill Mayor Pam Hemminger and Carrboro Mayor Lydia Lavelle joined other leaders across the U.S., Mexico, and Canada in signing the National Wildlife Federation’s Mayor’s Monarch Pledge. The pledge, created in 2015, commits cities, municipalities, and other communities to creating habitat for the monarch butterfly and pollinators as well as educating residents about how they can be a part of the effort.
Carrboro Mayor Lydia Lavelle spoke earlier this month with 97.9 The Hill’s Brighton McConnell about her decision to sign the pledge.
“It’s a species who’s eastern populations have declined by 90% in recent years,” she said. “Through this pledge towns like Carrboro are basically committing to create habitat for the monarch butterfly pollinators and educate the community.”
“There’s a series of different things you can do to meet this pledge,” Lavelle added, “and we found that through a lot of work we’re doing similarly for bees and through our emphasis on invasive species removal and pollinator awareness, that we’re able to meet a lot of the requirements to make this pledge.”
In the next year, Chapel Hill intends to meet the pledge requirements by inspiring community garden groups to plant native milkweeds and nectar-producing plants, encouraging developers and planners to identify opportunities to create monarch habitat, and maintaining monarch and pollinator demonstration gardens at community locations such as Pritchard Park and the Chapel Hill Public Library. The town will also work with city parks and recreation, public works, sustainability, and other staff to improve its mowing and planting programs.
In addition, Chapel Hill plans to expand upon the volunteer-led invasive species removal program along local greenways that helps monarch butterflies and other pollinators re-establish their native habitats.
Carrboro plans to not only expand upon its similar invasive species removal program, but intends to display education signage at different monarch gardens and pollinator habitats within the community, hold a native seed sale, giveaway, or swap, and host a neighborhood challenge to encourage residents and homeowners’ associations to increase awareness and create habitat for the butterfly.
On top of this, Carrboro is issuing a proclamation to raise awareness about the challenges the monarch butterfly is facing and intends to encourage residents to plant monarch gardens within their neighborhoods by advancing a public communication effort.
“I think anytime that we can make folks aware of something like this is really important,” said Lavelle, “and it’s certainly right up Carrboro’s alley to do so.”
More information about the monarch butterflies as well as how to plant a pesticide-free habitat garden can be found on the National Wildlife Foundations’ Monarch Butterfly webpage.
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