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Fairfax County leaders have joined a nationwide campaign to protect monarch butterflies after their population declined by 90% since the 1990s.

The Board of Supervisors agreed at its Jan. 14 meeting to participate in the National Wildlife Federation’s Mayors’ Monarch Pledge Program. The initiative asks local governments to take steps to slow the loss of habitat for monarchs and other pollinators.

“More than 600 heads of local governments have taken the pledge, and it’s time for Fairfax to join,” Braddock District Supervisor James Walkinshaw said.

Walkinshaw sponsored the resolution with Board Chairman Jeff McKay. He credited students at Terra Centre Elementary School in Burke with bringing the monarch’s plight to county leaders’ attention.

The National Wildlife Federation attributes the butterfly’s steep decline to the degradation and disappearance of summer breeding grounds in the United States, along with the loss of winter habitat in Mexico and coastal California.

Fairfax County has already introduced several measures to help pollinators, Walkinshaw and Mount Vernon District Supervisor Dan Storck noted. The county has created no-mow areas on Park Authority property, restored old pastureland where possible and worked to remove invasive plants more aggressively.

Pollinator gardens are also being planted and maintained at more than 30 local schools. Other efforts include installing educational signs and distributing seeds through the Fairfax County Public Library for residents to grow plants that attract pollinators.

Those actions “are making a big difference for the monarch butterfly and other pollinators,” Walkinshaw said.

McKay said joining the national pledge will also remind county officials of areas where Fairfax can improve and expand its conservation work.