Sent: Thu, Apr 13, 2023 9:27 am
Subject: Mayor's Monarch Pledge

Greetings to the Boise Heights Neighborhood Association,

We’re pleased to announce that Mayor McLean has again signed the National Wildlife Federation’s Mayor’s Monarch Pledge for 2023, which is a program committed to working with local city governments nationwide to create habitat for the monarch butterfly and other imperiled pollinator species.

 

The monarch butterfly, Idaho’s state insect,  is an iconic species whose eastern populations have declined by 90% and western populations by 99% in recent years. The Treasure Valley saw a promising increase in monarch sightings in 2022, and we hope for that trend to continue. But we need to do much more than just hope. We must work together.

 

What can the Boise Heights Neighborhood Association do to help in this effort?

 

One of the action items in the Mayor’s Monarch Pledge is the commitment to create awareness and gather information from Boise neighborhoods, homeowners, and businesses about how they can make a difference in their community for the benefit of monarchs, pollinators, and all wildlife. A very important aspect of seeing these goals reached is community-based science. We need the eyes of the local population open to what is happening in their outdoor spaces and the natural areas around them.

 

➢ Are you seeing monarch butterflies (or other pollinators)in your area?

➢ Do you have pesticide free milkweed growing in backyards or somewhere else in your neighborhood association boundaries? (if you need help with identification of milkweed species native to this area, please contact us)

 

Whether in a back yard, business landscape, or community space, we’d like to know about it.   Please report monarch sightings and plantings to the websites listed in the links section at the end of this message.

 

Finally, is your neighborhood association interested in doing more to support monarchs and other pollinators? Some of the actions that neighborhood associations and residents can take are:

 

1. Maintain, improve, enlarge, or create monarch safe habitat by planting milkweed and other pollinator friendly plants.
2. Reduce or eliminate the use of pesticides in private yards or in any community space.
3. Re-examine mowing schedules to make sure that important nectar sources are not cut down just when monarchs (and bees) need it most.

 

Please take some time as we embark on Spring (finally!) to add this call to action to your next association board meeting or mass communication. Also, please forward this information to HOA’s and homeowners.  Together, we can make a difference for our endangered state insect and other pollinators!

 

Links:

Learn more about the Mayor’s Monarch Pledge.

 

Officially certify your space as friendly habitat to wildlife (this could be *private homeowner

gardens or public space within your neighborhood association):

Certify your garden with Homegrown National Park

Create a Monarch Waystation

Certify your garden with the National Wildlife Federation

 

To report monarch habitat and monarch sightings:

iNaturalist

Western Monarch Milkweed Mapper

Journey North

 

Please join the Facebook group: Idaho Friends of Monarchs. Monarch sightings are also

reported here, along with other facts, statistics and pollinator gardening tips.

 

Also, make it a competition to participate with other neighborhood associations in the City Nature Challenge, coming up at the end of April!

Here is the Boise specific City Nature Challenge page.

 

If you have any questions about the pledge, about monarch butterflies or about creating safe habitat, please don’t hesitate to reach out to us,

 

With gratitude,

Kristin Gnojewski and Alene Hortin

 

 

 

 

Kristin Gnojewski Community Volunteer Specialist Parks and Recreation Department Office: (208)608-7609 kgnojewski@cityofboise.org cityofboise.org   Creating a city for everyone.