INDIANAPOLIS — Mayor Joe Hogsett, the Indianapolis Office of Sustainability and local nonprofit Keep Indianapolis Beautiful (KIB) gathered today to plant the 30,000th new tree in Indianapolis at Willard Park on the east side, celebrating the completion of a critical goal in Thrive Indianapolis as well as Indy’s 35th official Tree City USA designation.
The 30,000 trees included in this tally have been planted within Marion County public right-of-way since the benchmark in 2018 and include trees planted by the Department of Public Works’ Urban Forestry, Land Stewardship, and Engineering programs, the Department of Parks and Recreation, as well as those planted via the City’s partnership with KIB, IUPUI, Downtown Indy, trees planted via Citizen Energy Group’s 10,000 Trees Initiative with KIB, and AES Indiana’s Trees For Indy program. The specific tree species chosen for the plantings are always carefully selected based on location in order to ensure maximum benefits and minimal conflict with the surrounding environment. Species include red oak, hackberry, sugar maple, sweet gum, and tulip poplars, Indiana’s official state tree.
Thrive Indianapolis, the first sustainability and resilience action plan in Indy’s history, was developed through community engagement and adopted by the city in 2019. The goals outlined in the plan prioritize community collaboration to achieve equity in policy, planning, and project implementation and set a path for citywide carbon neutrality by 2050 by addressing the growing hazards of a changing climate.
Community leaders also commemorated Indy’s recognition by the Arbor Day Foundation (in partnership with the U.S. Forest Service and the National Association of State Foresters) as a Tree City USA for the City’s commitment to effective urban forest management. This is the 35th consecutive year that the Department of Public Works’ Urban Forestry team has achieved this designation.
Through the development of Thrive, research found that in Indianapolis, summertime maximum daily temperatures can vary by up to 15 degrees depending on the specific neighborhood. Increasing the number of trees and greenspaces has also been shown to increase community cohesion and provide public safety benefits, potentially due to the calming effect lower temperatures achieved through shade can have on feelings of aggression during extreme heat events.
While this 30,000th tree celebration marks the early completion of a 2025 goal, KIB will host additional plantings throughout 2023 (and the following years). Community members who would like to participate in future plantings are encouraged to learn more and register at www.kibi.org/projects.
