Marilyn Trent has owned Trent Creative, a design agency with offices in Rochester and Detroit, for over thirty years. She is the proud mother of two grown daughters and sees herself as a catalyst for positive social and ecological change in her community. Affectionately known as “The Butterfly Lady”—a title she cherishes almost more than "Mom"—Marilyn’s passion for butterflies has become a defining aspect of her mission.

Currently serving on the Rochester City Council, Marilyn also holds several leadership roles, including Past Chair of the Rochester Regional Chamber of Commerce, Conservation Chair of the DAR Stoney Creek Chapter, member of the Flagstar Strand Advisory Committee, and PR Committee Chair for North Oakland Wild Ones.

In 2019, Marilyn founded Rochester Pollinators with a mission to help save the monarch butterfly. Today, the organization has grown far beyond its original scope. Through community education,garden planting, and hands-on workshops, Rochester Pollinators has helped make the City of Rochester one of only five cities nationwide to receive the National Wildlife Federation’s Mayor’s Monarch Pledge Champion Award. The City of Rochester Hills has also signed the Mayor's Monarch Pledge.

Marilyn emphasizes that small changes in our own backyards can have a broad ecological impact. Simply choosing pollinator-friendly plants can make your yard a haven for butterflies, bees, moths, and birds. Many nurseries now offer neonicotinoid-free plants, responding to growing awareness of the chemical’s harmful effects on pollinators. To ensure your plants are pollinator-safe, check with the nursery’s website or contact them directly. Retailers like Meijer, Home Depot, and Lowe’s often label neonic-free plants to help consumers make informed choices.

During her presentation, Marilyn also introduced the value of native plants and the innovative Miyawaki mini-forest method—a proven technique for restoring degraded urban land. By densely planting native species in layered groupings that mimic natural forest ecosystems (canopy, subcanopy, understory, and shrubs), these mini-forests grow up to ten times faster than traditional reforestation methods. “You’ll never walk through a forest the same way,” she says.

Rochester Pollinators recently planted a 1,000-square-foot mini-forest behind the Rochester Department of Public Works using the Miyawaki Method. It contains 290 native trees, plants, and shrubs and is expected to become self-sustaining within three years. Central to this method is selecting the right combination of native species for the site’s specific conditions.

Marilyn also highlighted the importance of “mother trees,” such as oaks, which support surrounding plants through underground fungal networks. These networks create a cooperative system among plants, fostering mutual support rather than competition—a concept echoed in recent ecological studies.

For more information about Rochester Pollinators and how to get involved, visit their website at https://rochesterpollinators.org/.