Connie Schmidt, representing the DuPage Monarch Project coalition of The Conservation Foundation, Forest Preserve District of DuPage, River Prairie Sierra Club and Wild Ones, presented DuPage County with a Pollinator Protector recognition at the Dec. 9 county-board meeting.

Schmidt described the county’s GIS mapping program as data-driven and designed to locate existing pollinator habitats and identify gaps where new plantings and protections are needed to support native bees, butterflies and other pollinators. She credited county staff and named project coordinators and urged continued county leadership on habitat conservation.

The board received the recognition and members thanked county staff and the Sierra Club representative for the project; no formal action or funding request was recorded during the presentation.