City of West Chicago, Illinois

Where History and Progress Meet

Skip NavigationMenu
  • About West Chicago
    • America In Bloom
    • Community Profile
    • Demographics
    • Healthy West Chicago
    • History
    • Location
    • Media Center
    • Spirit
    • Welcome Brochure (pdf)
    • Close
  • Residents
    • Services
      • Animal Control
      • Bicycle Lockers
      • Brush Pickup
      • Cemeteries
      • Citywide Collection Event
      • Electric Utiity
      • Garbage & Recycling
      • Hydrant Flushing
      • Lawn Sprinkling
      • Fall Leaf Collection
      • Metra Lot Parking
      • Snow Removal
      • Spring Leaf Collection
      • Water
      • Water and Sewer Billing
      • Yard Waste Collection
    • Communication Channels
      • Annual State of the City Address
      • Blogs
      • City Maps
      • Coffee with the Mayor
      • Community Calendar
      • Forms & Applications
      • News Room
      • Social Media
      • Welcome Brochure
      • Window to West Chicago
    • Elections & Voting
      • Find Your Polling Place
      • Elections & Voting
    • Close
  • Government
    • Elected Officials
      • City Clerk
      • City Council
      • Committees
      • Mayor Ruben Pineda
      • Meeting Minutes & Agendas
      • Transparency Portal
    • Commissions
      • Civil Service Commission
      • Cultural Arts Commission
      • Environmental Commission
      • Historical Preservation Commission
      • Liquor Control/Tobacco Commission
      • Plan Commission and Zoning Board of Appeals
    • City Departments
      • Administration
      • Administrative Services
      • Community Development
      • Police
      • Public Works
    • Municipal Code
      • Code Catalog
      • Property Maintenance Standards
      • FAQs
    • Close
  • Business
    • New Business
      • Why Locate in West Chicago
      • Opening a New Business
      • Assistance and Support
      • Entrepreneur Testimonials
      • Home-based Business Standards
    • Business Help Desk
      • Business Registration Renewal
      • Zoning
      • Permits
      • Specialty Business Licenses
      • Forms and Applications
      • Frequently Asked Questions
    • Incentive Programs
      • Downtown Grant Program
      • Facade Improvement
      • Sales Tax Sharing
      • Streamlined Development Process
    • Awards and Milestones
      • Marketplace Milestones
    • Close
  • Explore
    • West Chicago Prairie
      • Walking and Biking Trails
    • Family Destinations
      • ARC Center
      • Turtle Splash
      • Wiggly Field Dog Park
      • Sonny Acres
      • The Shell
      • Klein Creek Farm
      • Parks
    • Historic Downtown
      • City Museum
      • Gallery 200
      • West Chicago Public Library
    • Public Art
      • Community Art Banner Exhibits
      • Signa Rotae
      • In This Together
      • Forever Lily
      • WCTU Fountain
    • Special Events
      • Blooming Fest
      • Railroad Days
      • National Night Out
      • Move with the Mayor Virtual Challenge
      • Mexican Independence Day Festival
      • Food Festival
      • Virtual Frosty 5K, Frosty Scavenger Hunt, Frosty House Decorating Contest
    • Close
  • Community Organizations
    • Hospitals
      • Northwestern Medicine Central DuPage Hospital
      • Northwestern Medicine Delnor Hospital
    • Religious Organizations
      • Arya Samaj of Chicagoland
      • Church of Christ
      • Community Fellowship
      • Faith Community
      • First United Methodist
      • Glen Arbor Community
      • Nueva Esperanza
      • New Life Bilingual
      • Real Life Church
      • Renewal Church
      • Resurrection Angelican
      • St. Andrew / San Andrés Lutheran
      • St. Mary Catholic
      • St. Michael’s United Church of Christ
      • Trinity Evangelical Lutheran
      • Water’s Edge Bible
      • Willow DuPage
    • Schools
      • Benedictine University
      • Benjamin School District 25
      • College of DuPage
      • Educare West DuPage
      • Elementary School District 33
      • St. Charles School District 303
      • West Chicago High School
      • Wheaton Academy
    • Community Service Groups
      • Access DuPage
      • American Legion Post 300
      • Boy Scout Troop 33
      • DuPage Homeownership Center
      • GardenWorks Project
      • Giving DuPage
      • Neighborhood Food Pantry
      • People Made Visible
      • Prairie Stewardship Group
      • Rotary Club
      • West Chicago Garden Club
      • Western DuPage Chamber of Commerce
    • Government Organizations
      • Dept. of Homeland Security
      • DuPage County
      • Fire Protection District
      • Wayne Township
      • West Chicago Park District
      • West Chicago Public Library
      • Winfield Township
    • Close
  • QUICK LINKS
    • E-Pay
    • Job Opportunities
    • Police News
    • How Do I…?
    • Window to West Chicago
    • Elections & Voting
    • Snow Regulations
    • FOIA Requests
    • Property Maintenance / Code Enforcement Brochure
    • Social Services Resource Guide
    • Welcome Brochure
    • Close

West Chicago Celebrates Illinois Pollinator Week June 17 – 23

June 18, 2019 By City of West Chicago

Has your garden gone quiet, the hum and buzz of busy pollinators a faint whisper?  Do you remember summer nights driving through clouds of insects but now arrive home with a clean windshield?  Do you miss the enchantment of watching the flash and glimmer of fireflies?

While we’ve been busy doing human stuff, pollinators and insects have been quietly disappearing.  For years the decline went unnoticed.  Insects are small, many live outdoors and often the everyday human insect interactions are annoying, ants in the kitchen, mosquitoes in the yard, yellow jackets threatening a picnic.  Hard to miss something you want to avoid.

Though often overlooked, insects are the keystone of life, a pivotal connection between plants and animals.  Our lives are being diminished by their decline.

A growing number of studies confirm insects are declining in abundance with a number of species in danger of extinction.  Insects in general are declining but the ones commanding the most attention are pollinators, a group that includes bees, butterflies, moths, beetles, ants and flies.  Pollinators in Peril, a report prepared by the Center for Biological Diversity in 2017 found that 24% of native bees are imperiled and population declines are occurring in 52% of native bee species.  In Illinois, the Illinois Butterfly Monitoring Network has found a 30% decline in butterfly abundance since 2000.

Community volunteers plant a variety of flowers that will attract pollinators to Sesquicentennial Park in West Chicago.
 

West Chicago is doing its part to help. Since 2017 when he signed the Mayor’s Monarch Pledge, Mayor Ruben Pineda has taken a lead role in advancing awareness and support for the importance of providing Monarch-friendly habitats throughout the City. The most recent example of this is a new pollinator garden at Sesquicentennial Park planted by City leaders and community volunteers. Advocacy through groups like the Green Disciples of the First United Methodist Church, the DuPage Monarch Project, the West Chicago Environmental Commission, America in Bloom of West Chicago, People Made Visible, Community High School District 94, and others are making a difference.

A grant received earlier this year by the City allowed the showing of a visually beautiful conservation film titled The Guardians to High School Science and Language classes, as well as to the community at large at Gallery 200. Attendance was amazing, with some people coming from Elgin and other suburbs. Following a welcome message from Mayor Pineda, those in attendance watched in rapt silence as the story of an indigenous Mexican community struggling to survive and protect their forest habitat unfolded. Following the film, special guest Michael Rizo, Urban and Community Program Specialist for the US Forest Service, answered questions posed by audience members. Additional showings of the film may be arranged through People Made Visible, the not for profit arts group which oversees Gallery 200 activities.

Mayor Ruben Pineda welcomes those gathered for a public showing of the conservation film titled The Guardians, and talks about some of the efforts by West Chicago to protect the Monarch and other pollinators.

Human activity has created the conditions negatively impacting insects. The causes are known, primarily loss of habitat, widespread pesticide usage and changing weather patterns.  Each one of us can be part of the solution. Helping begins with understanding. One of the best ways of understanding the natural world is to spend time in it, looking closely, listening carefully, being curious, noting changes, asking questions and finding answers.  Eric Simons, an editor for Bay Nature, a science magazine based in San Francisco says,  “You can go for a walk outside and just pay attention to what’s around you.” It sounds simple, but Simons says that noticing your surroundings is the first step to noticing changes. “The natural world needs witnesses, now more than ever.”

There are many resources available for those wishing to learn more. Please visit, https://pollinator.org/; https://xerces.org/; or https://monarchjointventure.org/ for more information.

*Note: Some of the content for this press release is credited to Lonnie Morris, the coordinator for the DuPage Monarch Project, a partnership organization of the Forest Preserve District of DuPage County, River Prairie Group of the Sierra Club, The Conservation Foundation and Wild Ones Greater DuPage Chapter.  More information about DuPage Monarch Project may be found at https://dupagemonarchs.com/.

Share this...
Share on Facebook
Facebook
Tweet about this on Twitter
Twitter
Share on LinkedIn
Linkedin

Filed Under: Environment, Mayor, News Tagged With: America in Bloom, Illinois Pollinator Week, The DuPage Monarch Project, The Guardians

e-Pay logo and link_________________________

West Chicago City Hall
425 Main Street
West Chicago, IL 60185

Phone: 630-293-2200
FAX: 630-293-3028

City Hall Limited Reopening
Beginning Tues. 8/11/20
Tues., Weds., Thurs.: 8:00 am – Noon
The public is required to wear a
mask and practice social distancing
when inside the building.

Full details

REQUEST

  • Business Forms
  • Resident Forms
  • Elections & Voting Info
  • FOIA
  • LexisNexis eCrash
  • Permits and Applications
  • Utility Services
  • Overnight Parking
  • Citizen Online Reporting
  • Vacation Watch

VIEW

  • GIS Maps
  • Job Opportunities
  • Metra Lot Parking
  • Municipal Code
  • Newsletters
  • Transparency Portal
  • Quest Bid System
  • West Chicago on YouTube

STAY UP-TO-DATE

  • Join Our Emailing List
  • Police News
  • Public Works Projects
  • Latest News Releases
  • Blogs
  • Community Calendar (Desktop)
  • Community Calendar (Mobile)
  • Media Center
  • INTERNAL EMAIL

Copyright 2020 © - City of West Chicago, Illinois - All rights reserved - Terms of Use - Privacy Policy - Legal Disclaimer

Site by Technivista