Dear Members:

We are writing to you as a member of (Heartland Group Sierra Club/Amos Butler Audubon/Hoosier Environmental Council/Indiana Forest Alliance/Mud Creek Conservancy/other organization) to 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:

  1. Establish a non-reverting Marion County Forest Preservation Fund to facilitate the purchase of urban forests throughout Marion County.  Transfer funds earmarked by City Councilors from the 2025 Budget for acquisition of forests such as Haverstick Creek Woods, the $1 million appropriated into the City’s Stormwater Fund in 2025 for forest acquisitions and the $1 million just agreed to in the Spring Fiscal into this Fund. 
  1. 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 the Indy Parks as low intensity nature parks.       
  1. 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.  This would fulfil the Board’s founding executive order from 2005 as the “recommended mechanism for assisting in the county-wide effort of managing trees and tree communities”. 

Background: Compared to other large cities in the Midwest and nationally, Indianapolis ranks poorly in per capita spending and acreage dedicated to parks and open space. Only 35% of our residents live within a ten-minute walk of a park. Amongst the 100 largest US cities evaluated by ParkServe and the Trust for Public Land, only one does worse than Indianapolis in this metric of park access. The City acknowledges that we need more recreational space.  The Public Space Vision of its Open Space Plan seeks to increase public space from the current 5% to 10% of the County by 2030. This will require the city to double Indianapolis parkland or acquire 10,000 more acres in just five more years. 

The City Park’s “Comprehensive Master Plan Update” of 2023 and the Department of Public Works’ Land Stewardship report on “Indy Lands Conservation” from 2022 have both identified the Eastside Flatwoods as a priority acquisition.  The I-70 woods is 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 and is in an area of southwest Indianapolis burgeoning with development that also lacks protected greenspaces. The owners of these forests are willing to sell them for conservation at or below their appraised values.

City officials are saying 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 lack of 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 “underspend” funds saved each year when considerable staff positions in city government remain vacant. Another immediate source could be the $20 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 $23 million without significant financing hurdles.    

The City should use the Forest Preservation Fund to fullfill the objectives of the City’s Parks Master Plan, Full Circle Greenways Plan and other initiatives to conserve forests and needed greenspace. In addition to general appropriations, other sources of money for the Fund could include other municipal bonds, stormwater fees, fees from the removal of heritage trees, community impact fees from tax increment finance districts, impact fees for new residential developments, and grants from private foundations and state and federal programs.  Most urgently however, if this Fund is not created in this year’s budget, nearly $3.5 million in monies allocated for forest acquisition over the last year, will revert back to the City’s general fund to be used for other purposes.   

Accordingly, please ask Mayor Hogsett and your City County Councilor to take these three actions NOW.  It’s long past time to appropriate the funds to follow City-produced park and greenspace plans before more forests and the resilience and quality of life they can 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

You can find out who your City Councilor is at: https://maps.indy.gov/GovProfile/index.html  Type your street address into the box under “Government Profile”.  Then click on “My Government”, then click on “My Elected Officials”, and finally click on “Indianapolis/Marion County”.  Staff at 317.327.4242 can assist you if you have difficulties or leave a message for your Councilor to get back to you. 

Time is of the essence.  The Hogsett Administration will unveil it’s plans for the 2026 City Budget on August 11.  Please act today!  Thank You!  

Respectfully,

Organizational Leader