4/28/2006
Media Contact:
David Forsell, 223-5180
Justin Ohlemiller, 327-3690 |
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Keep Indianapolis Beautiful, Inc., City mark Arbor Day by launching plan to plant 100,000 trees across Indianapolis
10-Year, $14 million effort targets areas in need of "green"
INDIANAPOLIS--Mayor Bart Peterson joined Keep Indianapolis Beautiful, Inc. (KIB) and students from IPS School 14 to announce a major initiative to plant 100,000 trees in Indianapolis over the next ten years. The announcement of the "NeighborWoods" initiative will target communities across Indianapolis most in need of more tree coverage. Today’s announcement took place in one of those targeted areas in the Holy Cross neighborhood.
David Forsell, President of Keep Indianapolis Beautiful, Inc. said that trees do far more for the community than simply making it prettier.
"Remarkable national research clearly demonstrates that trees improve air and water quality; increase neighborhood property values; encourage economic and retail vitality; and likely create neighborhood environments that reduce domestic violence, property crime and violent crime. We want to apply that research locally, and measure the difference intensive community tree planting will make throughout Marion County."
The KIB initiative was first announced in the Mayor’s State of the City last month.
"NeighborWoods is about improving the quality of life in communities across Indianapolis," Mayor Peterson said. "Planting trees has proven to be an effective tool to rally neighbors, promote community pride and bring new investment to areas that need it most."
Neighborwoods will focus on "hot spots" within Center Township for intensive community tree planting over the next ten years. Every plantable space approved by government and property owners will be targeted for tree planting to meet a 25% tree cover goal in each "hot spot." Tree coverage in targeted areas currently ranges from 9-17%. American Forests, Inc., the nation’s oldest conservation organization, suggests tree canopy goals of 25% for urban residential areas.
KIB will use computer modeling to measure the environmental benefits of trees that are planted in these neighborhoods, and will work with public safety experts and researchers over time to measure the relationship between the greening of neighborhoods, volunteer engagement and localized crime statistics.
More broadly, understanding the value trees provide (among them improving property values and business climates), KIB will partner with the city and others to promote and facilitate extensive community tree planting throughout Marion County through volunteer projects, tree distribution days, wholesale/retail partnerships, and other avenues.
Neighborhoods and property owners will be required to pledge care for newly planted trees. Those efforts will be supplemented by KIB’s Youth Corps and Indy TreeKeepers programs.
As lead corporate supporters, Indianapolis Power & Light Company and Veolia Water Indianapolis have both pledged multi-year charitable commitments totaling $400,000. The total cost for NeighborWoods is estimated to be $14 million.
Through a grant from the Efroymson Fund of the Central Indiana Community Foundation, KIB worked closely with IUPUI over the past year to map social and environmental stressors on Center Township, which in 2003 had the least tree cover of any township in Marion County, according to data provided by Indy Parks and Recreation.
Researchers using Geographic Information Systems mapped a variety of indicators of socioeconomic and environmental challenges, including higher than average crime rates, ambient air temperatures, and impervious surfaces; and lower than average income and tree cover.
The result is a vivid picture of areas within Center Township that have the most immediate need for trees.
Forsell is confident NeighborWoods will succeed.
"We face a gap between our generous lead gifts and what NeighborWoods will require, but just ten years ago, KIB wasn’t in the tree planting business. With support from the Indiana Department of Natural Resources, Efroymson Fund, IPL, the City of Indianapolis and others, we’ve gotten this far. With new partners on the horizon, such as the Alliance for Community Trees, Plant A Million, Senator Richard Lugar, and others of which today we’re unaware, there is no reason to believe we can’t take this next important step, and we must. The return on the investment of planting 100,000 trees will pay off for generations," said Forsell.
For more information about NeighborWoods, contact KIB at 264-7555, or by visiting www.kibi.org.
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