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Category Archives

Tree Tenders

What a Good Neighbor Looks Like in Indianapolis

Posted by: Jeremy Kranowitz
Posted: May 16, 2026
Categories: Adopt-A-Block, AES Indiana Project Greenspace, Busy Roads and Waterways, Clean Neighborhoods, Community Forestry, Custom Day of Service, Engaged Citizens, Great Indy Cleanup, Habitat Restoration, KIB Ambassadors, News & Features, Plogging, Tree Tenders, Trees and Native Habitats, Urban Naturalists, Volunteers, Youth Tree Team

The world can really feel heavy sometimes. The headlines, the noise, the feeling that things are getting harder to fix. We feel it too. But there’s another story running underneath all of that, and it’s been quietly unfolding in Indianapolis neighborhoods every weekend for 50 years. People planting trees they may never sit under. Neighbors […]

A Saturday of Cleanup, Tree Planting, and Restoration in Brookside Park

Posted by: Jeremy Kranowitz
Posted: March 30, 2026
Categories: Busy Roads and Waterways, Clean Neighborhoods, Community Forestry, Engaged Citizens, Great Indy Cleanup, Habitat Restoration, KIB Ambassadors, News & Features, Tree Tenders, Trees and Native Habitats

Brookside Park is one of those places that tells an incredible story about our city. It shows what a neighborhood values. It reflects how people gather, how they move through shared space, and whether a public place feels cared for. And on a recent Saturday morning, it showed something else: what it looks like when […]

GreenKeepers and Friends: Celebrating a Year of Impact

Posted by: Katie Waters
Posted: December 16, 2025
Categories: Adopt-A-Block, Engaged Citizens, KIB Ambassadors, Tree Tenders, Uncategorized, Volunteers

The GreenKeepers and Friends End of Year Celebration was a joyful and meaningful way to close out 2025. With a cozy hot chocolate bar and a competitive round of KIB Jeopardy, we gathered to celebrate the incredible work of our GreenKeepers, Adopt-A-Block Captains, Ambassadors, and Tree Tenders, the specialized volunteers who make our mission possible. […]

Volunteer Spotlight: Maithilee Das Lappin

Posted by: Jeremy Kranowitz
Posted: January 21, 2025
Categories: Adopt-A-Block, Clean Neighborhoods, Engaged Citizens, KIB Ambassadors, Tree Tenders, Volunteers

This month, we are thrilled to shine a light on an exceptional volunteer, KIB Board Member, Adopt-A-Block Captain, Tree Tender, and Ambassador, Maithilee Das Lappin. Maithilee has been a driving force in the KIB community since she moved to Indianapolis after graduating from Purdue in 2015. Always eager to make a difference, she quickly became […]

Rebuilding Indianapolis’ Tree Canopy: The Good, the Bad, and How to Get Involved

Posted by: Jeremy Kranowitz
Posted: October 1, 2024
Categories: Community Forestry, Education, Engaged Citizens, KIB in the News, News & Features, Research & Data, Tree Tenders, Trees and Native Habitats, Uncategorized, Volunteers

As the President and CEO of Keep Indianapolis Beautiful (KIB), I’m writing to you with a story that has both a challenging side and a hopeful future—especially if we work together. Let’s start with the tough part. A recent study by American Forests found that over the past decade, Indianapolis’ tree canopy has declined—from covering […]

The Danger of CoDom Stems

Posted by: Jeremy Kranowitz
Posted: December 6, 2018
Categories: Education, Tree Tenders, Trees and Native Habitats

Yep … you read that correctly. CoDom stems are a danger to tree health. Here is an easy way to protect your tree. The term “co-dominant stem” is used to describe a tree that is composed of two main stems or leaders. Both stems are usually the same in diameter and length. As the tree […]

Working with Urban and Suburban Soils

Posted by: Jeremy Kranowitz
Posted: November 7, 2018
Categories: Education, Tree Tenders

Maria Gulley is the horticulturist at Gardens of Growth, a full service landscape design, build and maintenance firm, where she also manages the company blog. She guests blogs about her experience volunteering as a Tree Tender for KIB and her passion for the value of urban trees and greenspaces, and enhancing our communities. When a soil […]

The Three Cut Pruning Method: What is it?

Posted by: Jeremy Kranowitz
Posted: November 2, 2018
Categories: Education, Tree Tenders, Trees and Native Habitats

What is the three cut pruning method? The three cut pruning method is a strategy used to remove larger limbs from a tree.  Why is it used? This method is used to reduce the weight of the branch and make a clean proper cut. If a heavy weighted branch is removed improperly, the bark of the tree […]

Don’t be in the dark! Learn how to ID trees by their bark.

Posted by: Jeremy Kranowitz
Posted: October 31, 2018
Categories: Community Forestry, Education, Tree Tenders, Trees and Native Habitats

After our recent cold snap, you may be itching to get back outside and stretch your legs. As the temperatures rise and the days get a little bit longer, the outdoors become more inviting. A hike in the woods is a great way to stave off the winter blues, and if you’re a tree nerd […]


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