Minnetonka Is A 'Monarch Champion'

Press release from the City of Minnetonka:

January 11, 2021

The National Wildlife Federation recently acknowledged the City of Minnetonka and Mayor Brad Wiersum for completing all 24 action steps in the Mayors’ Monarch Pledge (MMP). The MMP program’s diverse measures – including strategic planning and education – increase habitat and awareness of monarch butterflies, whose population has declined by more than 90 percent since the mid-1990s. Minnetonka has participated in the pledge since 2017, and now becomes only the ninth of approximately 600 MMP signatory cities in North America to achieve Monarch Champion status.

“Minnetonka lies in the northern stretches of the Central Monarch Flyway, the critical migratory pathway for the monarch butterfly, and the city’s natural resources team is providing habitat for monarchs at city parks, community gardens, schools and throughout the city, to help ensure monarch butterflies survive,” said Patrick Fitzgerald, Senior Director of Community Wildlife at the National Wildlife Federation. “We applaud and thank City of Minnetonka Mayor Brad Wiersum for taking the National Wildlife Federation’s Mayors’ Monarch Pledge as a “Champion City,” and for the city’s continuing efforts to create more habitat for monarchs, pollinators and wildlife across the country.”

Minnetonka’s accomplishments as an MMP participant include:

• Amending city ordinance to ensure developers incorporate native plants in landscape plans
• Amending city ordinance to support pollinator lawns and meadows, which can provide essential habitat and habitat connectivity in urban areas
• Educating city residents and businesses on integrated pest management, soil health and other actions that can reduce the need for pesticides and fertilizer.
• Instituting the city’s annual Pollinator Field Day, which occurs each summer and includes a native plant sale, fun activities and educational presentations on pollinators.

Monarch butterfly populations have declined precipitously in just 25 years. East of the Rocky Mountains, monarch numbers have fallen by 90 percent; in the West, less than one percent of the historic population remains. This decline is tied to loss of breeding and overwintering habitat, increased chemical use in urban and agricultural areas, and severe weather events worsened by climate change. Open spaces in urban areas – from yards and parks to golf courses, rights-of-way, and natural areas – offer promising opportunities to plant milkweed (the only food source for monarch caterpillars), add nectar sources, and provide shelter. In turn, monarch habitat benefits many other native species. The Mayors’ Monarch Pledge provides a framework to guide cities in this work. Its 24 action steps include strategic planning, collaboration between city departments and with external partners, habitat protection, and education. In Minnetonka, this includes extensive outreach and engagement, updated ordinance to increase and preserve habitat citywide, and ongoing restoration on city properties.

This press release was produced by the City of Minnetonka. The views expressed here are the author’s own.