South Bend has been a certified Tree City USA through the Arbor Day Foundation for over 30 years.
It is home to approximately 855,000 people, making it the most populous in Indiana, and is situated within the Central region of the state.
Indianapolis is the State's Capital, and its largest city. It is home to the campus of Indiana University - Purdue University (IUPUI).
The Indianapolis/Marion County Tree Board was formed in 2006 to increase overall tree canopy coverage and quality within Marion County. Local non-profit, Keep Indianapolis Beautiful (KIB) created the Tree Canopy Hotspot Tool to be used in the city to help create more accurate estimates of UTC.
According to Keep Indianapolis Beautiful, Indianapolis’ tree canopy coverage was 33% in 2017, and increasing coverage to 35% would require planting 307,428 trees.
IUSB is the third largest of the Indiana University campuses and is a certified Tree Campus USA.
A campus tree Inventory conducted in 2012 estimated IUPUI's UTC to be 13%. Although campus UTC subsequently decreased to approximately 10%, due to construction projects, the Campus Tree Care Plan has helped increase UTC, which is presently estimated to be 12%. The current IUPUI Master Plan objective is to get UTC to 28%.
Although IUPUI shares similar goals for UTC with the City of Indianapolis, Jessica Davis, Director of the IUPUI Office of Sustainability mentioned said,
"[IUPUI doesn’t] influence the City’s landscape plans outside of planting in city right of way locations."
A Municipal Forest Resource Analysis done by City of Indianapolis in 2008 estimated
$5.73 million net annual benefit of street trees, or $49 per tree,
benefit-cost ratio of 6.09
Urban Tree Canopy estimates:
Indianapolis, IN - 33%
Central Indiana - 23.3%
IUPUI - 12%
Sources:
Carbon storage and sequestration by trees in urban and community areas of the United States https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0269749113001383
Barr, R. C. (2002). Documenting Changes in the Natural Environment of Indianapolis-Marion County from European Settlement to the Present. Ecological Restoration,20(1). Retrieved from https://web.b.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=1&sid=9306f03f-d505-4162-9e77-8fd32efc8ee5@pdc-v-sessmgr01.
Peper, P. J., Et.al. (2008). City of Indianapolis, Indiana Municipal Forest Resource Analysis(Tech.). Davis, CA: Center for Urban Forest Research. http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.192.7119&rep=rep1&type=pdf
A Technical Report Submitted to Lindsey Purcell, Indianapolis City Forester Parks and Recreation Department
Davey Resource Group. (2011). Assessing and Addressing Indiana Urban Tree Canopy (Rep.). Retrieved from https://www.in.gov/dnr/forestry/files/fo-FinalINUTCSummaryRep.pdf Prepared for Indiana Department of Natural Resources Division of Forestry Pamela Loucks
Tree Board. (2017). Indianapolis-Marion County Tree Board Annual Report 2017. Retrieved from http://indygov.org/eGov/City/DPW/Residential/Urban Forestry/Documents/Annual Report 2017.pdf
Exec. Order No. 1, 3 C.F.R. 2 (2005). Establishment of Indianapolis-Marion County Tree Board
Exec. Order No. 3, 3 C.F.R. 3 (2007). Establishment of Indianapolis-Marion County Green Commission
IUPUI. (n.d.). IUPUI Tree Care Plan 2018. Retrieved from https://uisapp2.iu.edu/confluence-prd/download/attachments/148799757/IUPUI Tree Care Plan - 2018 Complete.pdf?version=1&modificationDate=1544559977000&api=v2
Davis, J. G., MS,MPA. (2019, April 12). IUPUI Tree Canopy Cover [Telephone interview]. Director IUPUI Office of Sustainability