Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Tree Plantings topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Evansville mobilizes volunteers and grants for roughly 600 trees planned in 2024
Summary
Board members and partners described a fall planting campaign supported by IU cohort grants, Solid Waste District donations and private donors that aims to plant roughly 600 trees across Evansville by the end of 2024, with volunteer events scheduled the following weekend.
Evansville’s Tree Advisory Board outlined a major fall planting effort during its Nov. 7 meeting, saying a combination of grants, partner donations and the city nursery will result in hundreds of new public and residential trees by year’s end.
Larson, who led a summer canopy assessment for the board, described neighborhood outreach that identified priority blocks and informed where trees are most needed. "This whole summer, I worked on a canopy assessment, which I will be sending to each one of you and hopefully making publicly available," he said. Larson said the assessment guided planting locations and helped target outreach to homeowners in the New Haven neighborhood, where volunteers plan to plant about 26 trees.
Board staff described multiple funding sources and partner contributions: an IU cohort grant supporting roughly 103–104 plantings; Solid Waste District assistance for about 284 trees; contributions from a group identified in the transcript as Westman Woods for 34 trees; a Ryecrop donation of about 16 trees; and an EWSU mitigation program that will support 46 trees this fall. With city nursery trees added, staff said the total would be "close to somewhere around 600 trees planted in 2024 by the end of the year." The board and staff cautioned these counts are approximate.
Volunteers were asked to attend two Saturday plantings (State Hospital and Deaconess Sports Complex, both at 9 a.m.) and a Sunday planting in New Haven (1 p.m., 4612 Inspiration Street). Staff discussed logistics including pre-dug holes, mulch staging and the need for post-hole diggers and gloves. The State Hospital site will require truck deliveries because of distance across the site.
The planting campaign also includes park plantings at TP Park and Goosetown Park and donor-funded work at Garvin Park. Board members emphasized species diversity, better site planning for new trees and replacing low-value species along the riverfront if the riverfront project proceeds.
Next steps include circulation of Larson’s canopy assessment to the board and public, coordination of volunteers and reporting plant counts after the weekend events.
