Beautification group says drought may kill hundreds of new trees - 13 WTHR Indianapolis

"If the leaves are starting to brown or fall off, then your trees in trouble," says Keep Indianapolis Beautiful arborist Nate Faris.

The group says thousands of trees across the city already have already reached a critical point from this summer's drought. 

"There's 2 (hundred) or 300 right here that could be dead," said Faris, pointing to a planting along I-65 south.

It's the younger trees, planted in the past 5 years by the non-profit Keep Indianapolis Beautiful, that have been the most vulnerable in these conditions.

"Normally our newly planted trees, we're watering them once a week and right now we're having to do it 2 to 3 times a week, just to keep them alive," explained Faris.

The effort has had the group focused on another kind of green, apart from the color of tree leaves.

"We're trying to find funds everywhere we can," said Faris of the money it's been costing to keep the current trees watered.

Last year, Keep Indianapolis Beautiful spent just over a million dollars on planting and caring for trees in the city.

35 percent of that money came from the city.  The majority, though, came from grants and private donations.

With at least 40 trees already dead this summer at a cost of $200 each, the loss is already sizable. If the drought continues much longer, the losses are expected to continue to grow. 

"We don't know what's going to happen here, but we know we're losing trees," said Keep Indianapolis Beautiful President Dave Forsell.

The only way to try and stop it has been to keep spending money, watering the ones trees already in the ground to try and preserve them. "It's all hands on deck right now, taking care of trees," said Forsell.

That's cheaper, though, than letting trees die, having them cut down and hauled away. 

"When we lose a tree, we have more overflows on sewers. We have less shade on our houses. We have dirtier air. We have hotter temperatures," explained Faris.

Those are costs felt by everyone.