INDIANAPOLIS — Keep Indianapolis Beautiful has been planting trees across Marion County for the last five years. Back in 2018, the group had a goal to plant 30,000 trees by 2025, and Thursday, volunteers reached the goal — two years early.
The 30,000th tree went up in Willard Park. It is part of an effort to improve air quality and reduce flooding because trees absorb water, but all those trees help in other, unexpected ways, too.
"Having more trees and more nature around helps calm things down and makes the city a safer place for everybody," said Jeremy Kranowitz, the president and CEO of Keep Indianapolis Beautiful. "We know when we are planting trees that they are going to thrive for decades and that we're making the city a better place for our children and our grandchildren and it's going to make a difference for decades to come."
Although they reached their goal early, Keep Indianapolis Beautiful isn't done planting. It plans to plant another 800 trees in the next 10 weeks, plus thousands more in upcoming years.