Discover Greensboro Fall 2022

Federation’s Mayors' Monarch Pledge, committing to find opportunities to plant more milkweed or native nectar plants to help re-establish native habitats for pollinators. “The City of Greensboro and our community partners have already taken steps to increase natural pollinator habitats across our facilities,” said Parks and Recreation Department Director Nasha McCray. “We look forward to working with our colleagues and our neighbors to expand this habitat throughout the city.” It's great timing, as the Greensboro Science Center has recently opened the Cole Family Monarch Conservation Center and Butterfly House, giving the broader community insight into the plight of pollinators and ways people can help. Pollinators – including bats, birds, butterflies, bees, and flies – are a critical part of thriving ecosystems. While feeding on plants, pollinators move pollen from male flowers to female flowers causing the plant to produce fruit, seeds, and young plants. “They get the pollen on their bodies and they shake it off on other plants. We need them in their roles,” said Lindsey Zarecky, Vice President of Conservation and Research at Greensboro Science Center. Pollinators fertilize 75 percent of flowering plants, supporting 1,200 food crops and 180,000 different types of plants that help stabilize soil, clean air, supply oxygen, and support wildlife, according to the National Parks Service. Monarchs are particularly vulnerable because their caterpillars can only thrive on a single plant: the milkweed. And milkweed has been displaced from the landscape. “It’s not the prettiest plant out there. It’s a weed,” Zarecky said. “It has been removed from the landscape because it didn’t meet our definition of pretty.” To support monarch and other pollinators,

FEATURE STORY Ecology

Keely Park Community Garden

City Pledges to Save theMonarch Butterfly There’s something about its black and deep orange wings, with dainty white dots. Monarch butterflies seem so lighthearted and lovely. Unfortunately, the species is in crisis. The eastern band of monarchs, which migrate through North Carolina, are in danger of extinction. Their numbers have declined an estimated 90 percent since the 1990s, according to the National Wildlife Federation. The City of Greensboro and Mayor Nancy Vaughan have pledged to do their part to improve the chances of monarchs and other pollinators. Greensboro, led by the Parks and Recreation department, joined the National Wildlife

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