By Jeff Stant
Longtime executive director of the Indiana Forest Alliance
We urge you to ask Indianapolis Mayor Joe Hogsett and your City-County Councilor to take meaningful action in 2025 to preserve remaining urban forests in Marion County. Specifically, please request that the City:
- Establish a non-reverting Marion County Forest Preservation Fund to facilitate the purchase of urban forests throughout Marion County. Transfer monies earmarked by City Councilors from the 2025 Budget for acquisition of forests; the $1 million appropriated in the City’s Stormwater Fund in 2025 for forest acquisitions; and the $1 million just agreed to in the Spring Fiscal into this Fund.
- Allocate an additional $3 million to the Forest Preservation Fund for acquisition of the Eastside Flatwoods (144 acres), Goose Creek woods (21 acres), and I-70 woods (20 acres) to be added to Indy Parks as low-intensity nature parks.
- Assign management of the Forest Preservation Fund to the Board of Indy Parks. Also give the Indianapolis-Marion County Tree Board an advisory role by City statute to guide acquisitions of the Fund.”
Background: Amos Butler Audubon Society, through its Birdathon, provided seed money to the Indiana Forest Alliance (IFA) for its initiative Forests for Indy. The funding helped enable an arborist to inventory, map, and assess remaining tracts of forestland in Marion County. In the summer of 2021, the IFA published its Urban Forest Protection Strategy report. Two chapter leaders, Doug Sherow and Mary Ellen Gadski, served on its advisory committee during the multiyear planning effort. The report prioritized the 129 forests greater than 50 acres. Sadly, since this time, some of these forests have been lost to development. The loss of habitat for birds and other wildlife is a deep concern shared by Audubon members.
The City Park’s 2023 “Comprehensive Master Plan Update” and the 2022 Department of Public Works’ Land Stewardship report on “Indy Lands Conservation” have both identified the Eastside Flatwoods as a priority acquisition. The I-70 woods are in a neighborhood along East 30th Street that lacks parks or protected greenspace. The Goose Creek Woods has been preserved from before the existence of Indianapolis. It is in an area of southwest Indianapolis burgeoning with development and lacking protected greenspaces. The owners of these forests are willing to sell them for conservation at or below their appraised values.
City officials say there are no funds available for forest acquisition due to the reduction of property tax revenues by the state legislature, but what’s really missing is the political will to make the preservation of nature a priority in Indianapolis. Even if there is absolutely no room for forest acquisition dollars in the City’s $2 billion 2026 Budget, the $3 million could easily come from sources outside the budget. These could include the millions of dollars in “underspent” funds saved each year when considerable staff positions in City government remain vacant. Another immediate source could be the $2 million General Obligation Bond proposed for issuance by the City’s Controller for a new fire station, tornado sirens and snow plows. The City could increase this bond to $2 million without significant financing hurdles.
Most urgently, however, if the Fund is not created in this year’s budget, $3 million allocated for forest acquisition over the last year will revert back to the City’s general fund to be used for other purposes.
Please ask Mayor Hogsett and your City -County Councilor to take these three actions now. It is long past time to appropriate the funds to follow the City’s park and greenspace plans before more forest–and the quality of life they bring to our neighborhoods–are lost forever.
Call and/or leave messages for Mayor Hogsett at: 317-327-3601. You can write to the Mayor at: https://www.indy.gov/activity/write-to-the-mayor. Please relate who you are, where you live, and why the City’s forests matter to you. A public hearing on the City’s 2026 Budget will take place on Monday, September 22 at 7:00 pm at the City-County building. Please act today! Thank you!
The original appeal from Indiana Forest Alliance can be found and read in its entirety here.