Proclamation of a Champion City

The City of McAllen is the first city in the LRGV and the second in the US to pledge to implement 24 actions items to help create and restore habitat and educate citizens in the community about the plight of monarch butterflies. On September 12th, 2016, Mayor Jim Darling declared the date to be Mayor's Monarch Pledge Day. This puts the city in the category of Champion level.

Proclamation

WHEREAS, the Monarch butterfly is one of the most popular and iconic species in North America whose incredible multi-generational migration has captured the imagination of millions of Americans and

WHEREAS, the Northern American Monarch was adopted as the Official State Insect by the Texas Legislature in 1995, and

WHEREAS, 20 years ago, more than one billion Monarch butterflies migrated to Mexico, but that population has dwindled by more than 80 percent in the past two decades, and

WHEREAS, Monarch scientists attribute the decline to degradation and loss of summer breeding habitat in the United States, and loss of winter habitat in Mexico, and

WHEREAS, we, the citizens of McAllen, are concerned about the Monarch butterfly population, and

WHEREAS, every citizens of McAllen can make a difference by simple changes in landscaping and educating citizens about how and where to grow native milkweeds and other native habitat that can benefit all pollinators, and

WHEREAS, on behalf of the people of McAllen who have already joined me in creating native habitat for these magnificent butterflies, I am honored to be the first Mayor in the Lower Rio Grande Valley of Texas to lead the way by signing the National Wildlife Federation's Mayors' Monarch Pledge; and I encourage other city officials across our great region to take a stand with me so that the Monarch butterfly will once again flourish across the continent.

NOW THEREFORE, I, Jim Darling, Mayor of the City of McAllen, do hereby proclaim September 12, 2017 as:

"MAYORS' MONARCH PLEDGE DAY IN THE CITY OF MCALLEN"