An Indiana University program to help Hoosier communities manage and expand their local tree canopies is branching out this year.
In 2026, nine local governments are developing tailored tools to plan for and manage their urban forests as participants in the IU Environmental Resilience Institute’s (ERI’s) Resilience Cohort.
In addition to guiding a new group of communities through the process of identifying high-priority tree planting areas, ERI is launching a new cohort track to support long-term community resilience through the development of urban forest master plans.
Participants in the two-track Cohort include Urban Green Infrastructure communities Gary, Huntington, Lafayette, Logansport, and South Bend as well as Urban Green Governance communities Dearborn County, Lawrence, Richmond, and Evansville. Each local government will receive technical assistance and training from ERI and host an embedded McKinney Climate Fellow, an IU student interested in sustainability career experiences.
Investing in tree canopy is a practical way to bolster a community’s resilience to pollution and extreme weather, including flooding and heat waves, and to restore canopy lost to pests and development over the years, said ERI Managing Director Sarah Mincey.
“Communities that adopt ERI’s data-driven approaches to managing urban trees are able to think carefully about how their canopy can provide the most benefit for residents,” Mincey said. “As Indiana’s climate becomes warmer and wetter due to climate change, the services provided by trees—including cooling shade, stormwater management, and air filtration—will become increasingly valuable assets that can help Indiana cities, towns, and counties thrive.”
Planting with a plan
For a third straight year, ERI is working with Indiana communities to create detailed maps drawing on local data to determine high-priority tree planting areas that maximize community benefits.
With funding from the US Department of Agriculture's (USDA's) Urban and Community Forestry program, the project has already produced eight community planting plans, provided more than 250 hours of training, and planted 800 trees to date.
The planting plans— developed by McKinney Climate Fellows—incorporate factors such as flood risk, urban heat, sociodemographic data, and community feedback to determine the best planting sites in each community.
“An important part of the project is working with the communities to figure out not only where trees would provide the most benefit but also where residents want trees,” said ERI Resilience Programs Coordinator Stephanie Freeman-Day. “Fellows invest a lot of effort engaging with neighbors and community leaders, getting their input on potential tree sites and species, and including them in the planting to boost the long-term success of the new trees.”
Participating communities have been able to use their newly developed planting plans to obtain funding for more trees. Richmond, part of the Resilience Cohort in 2024, secured a $160,000 grant from the Indiana Department of Natural Resources (IDNR) to further its planting plan. Another 2024 participant, Elkhart, is leaning on its plan to guide a $1 million USDA-funded project to plant more than 2,000 trees in the community.
“These community planting plans serve as long-term blueprints local governments can use to apply for funding and restore urban forests,” Mincey said.
Growing green governance
While the urban green infrastructure track provides hyper-local planting guidance, ERI’s newest Resilience Cohort track, funded by the IDNR Community and Urban Forestry program, is challenging local governments to create a community-wide plan to protect and support urban forests broadly.
The planning process will evaluate three areas: the health and characteristics of the local tree population; the formal policies that guide how forestry decisions are made; and the community assets, like non-profit organizations, that help the canopy thrive.
Over the course of a year, urban green governance communities will engage technical experts, elected officials, and local practitioners to develop a suite of governance tools that can be used to guide local policy decisions, environmental education programs, and forestry initiatives.
“One thing that I like about the urban green governance track is that we're looking at our forested areas across our entire county,” said Nicole Daily, planning and zoning director for Dearborn County, who is leading her county’s participation in the program.
Dearborn, part of the Cincinnati metro area, is facing critical land use decisions as developers seek to build in the county. An urban forest management plan will help local government staff identify key forest areas and shape local ordinances to guide sustainable long-term development.
The program will also convene small workshops where local leaders and practitioners will shape the goals and strategies that will be part of each plan. In the fall, participating communities will receive a couple dozen trees from IDNR’s nursery as a demonstration project.
About the Environmental Resilience Institute
Indiana University's Environmental Resilience Institute bridges academia, applied research, and community resilience to deliver the science-informed, equity-centered solutions needed to flourish in a changing climate. Through community partnerships, transformative research, and immersive learning, ERI is creating a more sustainable and prosperous future. Learn more at eri.iu.edu.
