We have much more to do and your continued support is needed now more than ever.
Becoming a Mature Butterfly: Celebrating a Decade-Long Pledge for Monarchs
Credit: Getty Images
2025 marks 10 years of the Mayors’ Monarch Pledge program’s work to build an unstoppable movement that supports healthy communities, wildlife, and ecosystems for all. The program is grounded in protecting our ambassador species, the monarch butterfly, and the many other native pollinator species that are declining across North America.
Along this ten-year journey, we have witnessed stages of growth that mirror the life cycle and journey of the monarch butterfly. We have fostered and pursued partnerships with mayors and heads of local and Tribal governments across North America to advance our ultimate goal to expand habitat for monarchs and other pollinators while growing local environmental stewards.
We can’t think of a better way to celebrate the journey, contributions, and wins of every mayor, local leader, volunteer, and individual who has stepped up for the monarch butterfly than to reflect on this journey through the lens of the monarch’s life cycle.
From Tiny Eggs to Big Impact: Honoring Our Earliest Stage
When spring begins, female monarchs migrate from their overwintering grounds in search of suitable milkweed plants to lay their eggs. Throughout their lifetime, they will lay a few hundred eggs.
Monarch butterfly eggs take about four days to hatch, whereafter they will eat their nutritious eggshell and then the native milkweed leaf itself. The first stage of a monarch’s life lasts only a few days and can be fragile and uncertain but ultimately, with resources and collaboration, changes come, and the next phase can begin.
The egg stage of the Mayors’ Monarch Pledge program started with a desire to support local leaders in making sustained progress for the monarch while engaging residents, and meeting other city-wide sustainability goals.
“In 2015, we didn’t know that our one-time pledge for mayors would grow and expand into an annual pledge for hundreds of mayors and heads of local governments across North America,” said Patrick Fitzgerald, senior director of community habitat at the National Wildlife Federation. “Thankfully, we were willing to navigate those uncertain times and be open to growth.”
In collaboration with trusted partners like the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, and our colleague scientist from the National Wildlife Federation, we developed a framework of 24 actions designed to guide local governments, municipalities, and leaders in advancing monarch conservation through policy change, habitat creation and expansion, and community engagement. These actions officially kicked off the Mayors’ Monarch Pledge program.
Early Movers, Rapid Growth: How Our Early Adopters Sparked a Movement
After a monarch egg hatches and a caterpillar emerges, growth happens rapidly! In just two weeks, the caterpillar will be 3,000 times larger than it was after first hatching. This growth is coupled with monarchs shedding their exoskeletons five times, in stages known as instars.
Our first few signatories mark the many instars, or “phases” of our program in those early days. These in-STARS ⭐ were necessary for us to learn, grow, and support more communities across North America.
In September 2015, Mayor of St Louis, Missouri, Francis Slay became the first mayor to sign and take our pledge to protect monarchs. The next community to follow suit was Austin, Texas, under the leadership of Mayor Steve Adler. San Antonio, Texas, joined the fold shortly thereafter. When Mayor Ivy Taylor took the pledge, she committed to all 24 actions of the Mayors’ Monarch Pledge, leading us to develop a “Monarch Champion” status to recognize such outstanding efforts.
In our larva stage, we turned to communities across the country who were already making strides in urban wildlife conservation, monarch conservation, and community engagement. We worked with dozens of communities across the U.S. that helped us shape our program early on. The excitement, enthusiasm, and commitment of these local leaders set us on the right path to expand this movement beyond borders.
Wrapped in Purpose: Shaping a Clearer Vision from Within
Once a monarch caterpillar is fully grown, they will look for an ideal place to form their chrysalis. Monarch caterpillars will attach a wad of silk to a milkweed plant and hang from it, forming upside down (in a “J”). They will shed their exoskeleton for the last time and begin forming a chrysalis. Inside this chrysalis, the caterpillar begins transforming into an adult butterfly, a process lasting 8-10 days.
The pupa stage marks a critical moment for growth, reflection, and transformation. Similarly, the pupa stage for the Mayors’ Monarch Program which lasted from 2016-2020, saw immense expansion and collaboration. This was the first fully implemented version of the pledge and we slowly began to bring in hundreds of mayors into the fold.
In 2017, with support from the Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC), we expanded the program to collaborate with the David Suzuki Foundation in Canada and Profauna in Mexico. We recognized early on that the tri-national migration of the monarch butterfly represents our collective responsibility to protect this vital species for future generations. With this clear vision, we were able to support more than 600 pledges from mayors and heads of local governments across North America.
Adults Emerge: Local Leaders Taking Flight
As the pupa stage comes to an end, the monarch’s wing colors and patterns will be visible through the chrysalis. Monarchs will begin to push their way out and find stability within its chrysalis. After emerging, monarchs may appear unbalanced with a huge abdomen and tiny folded wings but after a few short minutes, their wings will expand to full size. Monarchs will wait for about an hour so their wings can dry before taking flight.
Maturity brings lessons learned. In 2021, we decided to make the Mayors’ Monarch Pledge an annual pledge to encourage local leaders to renew their commitment to monarchs. We also revamped our action items to focus more on community engagement, collaboration with local organizations and schools, environmental justice, as well as Tribal and Indigenous sovereignty.
Since 2021, St. Louis has annually renewed their commitment for monarchs under the leadership of Mayor Tishaura Jones. In San Antonio, Mayor Ron Nirenberg took up the mantle in 2021 and has maintained monarch champion status every year since. In Austin, Mayor Kirk Watson has signed the pledge annually since 2023. Our early adopters represent just a portion of the hundreds of mayors and heads of local government who have taken the pledge for monarchs in the last decade.
Since 2015, nearly 2,300 pledges have been taken by mayors and heads of local governments across North America. Signatories have created over 11,500 acres of habitat for monarchs and pollinators, engaging more than 13.6 million people including more than 1.3 million youth.
This year, 353 mayors and other heads of local government have taken the pledge to protect monarchs. The life cycle and migration of the monarch are precious phenomena that we hope to protect for future generations. Through the Mayors’ Monarch Pledge we are organizing with local leaders from across North America to advance and implement proven strategies that can help monarchs, pollinators, and people.
If your community is interested in joining the program, visit the Mayors’ Monarch Pledge for more information and send a letter to encourage your mayor to sign the pledge.
