By SHAWNDRA MILLER, communications director, Central Indiana Land Trust
Six springs ago, Central Indiana Land Trust, Inc., kicked off the Million Tree Pledge. The stewardship crew began the endeavor in a field that bisected Betley Woods at Glacier’s End. The Johnson County nature preserve has since opened to the public – but at that point, the property still lacked a formal trail system, parking lot or other amenities.
It was early in the pandemic, and the Land Trust crew set to work turning a former farm field into a future forest. The crew had planted trees long before May 2020, of course. But this was the first year they were able to bring their own tractor and tree planter to the effort.
With the mechanization, the pace of planting hit roughly 2,000 trees a day – at about half the cost of contracting the work.
If it were only about efficiency, the team might be close to reaching the million mark. But the pledge is as much about strategy as capacity. Lining suburban streets or filling local parks with saplings is not aligned with the Land Trust’s mission. Instead, the focus is on key habitats in need of buffering.
Filling gaps in the forest helps support species that face high predation at forest edges, such as cerulean warblers and Eastern box turtles. While the saplings grow, they provide transitional habitat for bird species like yellow-breasted chat, blue-winged warbler, and ruffed grouse.
As future forests, the tree plantings will not only expand habitat for imperiled wildlife. They’ll clean the water and air, mitigate flooding, and even help cool the planet. All while bringing solace to the human heart.
Since that first Johnson County project, the crew has reforested areas in Parke, Tipton, Shelby, Hendricks, Montgomery, and Hamilton Counties, and more. By 2025, the team had a record year, with 50,000 trees planted – over half of them along a Vandalia Trail expansion. The Parks Foundation of Hendricks County supported that tree planting.
As of this spring, nearly 133,000 trees have gone into the ground, thanks to members’ generosity.
Headquartered in the Old Northside, Central Indiana Land Trust partners with conservation organizations statewide to preserve the best of Indiana’s natural areas, protecting plants and animals, so Hoosiers can experience the wonder of the state’s natural heritage. Find hiking destinations at conservingindiana.org.
