Canopy's Spring Season

Our 2025 plantings are off to a big start! Canopy set some ambitious goals and thanks to the great work and dedication of our volunteers, partners, residents and board members, we are on track for a very impactful year! Thank you!

Canopy's spring schedule included four neighborhood plantings, the shared launch of the City of Bloomington's 'Cool Corridors' project, educational programs, new community and resident engagement strategies and enhanced fundraising efforts and donor engagement. It has been a busy few months and here are some highlights from the recent plantings.

Crestmont Neighborhood - March 8

On March 8, Canopy helped the City of Bloomington launch the 'Cool Corridors' project, by planting 66 trees in right-of-way areas along several of the streets in the Crestmont neighborhood. This was accomplished with the help of 96 volunteers (with over 60 of these coming from the organizations of Sigma Alpha Epsilon, IU Corps, Civic Leaders Center), making the planting Canopy's largest to date.

The 'Cool Corridors' project is shading sidewalks with native tree species in neighborhoods particularly susceptible to excessive heat and reduced air quality. The City's Assistant Director of Sustainability, Shawn Miya, was one of the volunteers that day. Shawn said she is "so grateful for the leadership of CanopyBloomington. The city is very lucky to have an organization like this in Bloomington."

Crestmont was the first neighborhood this spring where Canopy went door-to-door in an attempt to engage the residents in each of the 270 households leading up to the planting. In addition to canvassing the neighborhood, Canopy also hosted a potluck in the Crestmont Community Center and attended the Bloomington Housing Authority Residents Committee Board.

One of the residents who participated in the planting, Marta Hall said, "I'm very appreciative. It is nice to know the wider community cares about us."

Broadview Neighborhood - March 22

On the beautiful, cool morning of March 22, Canopy planted another 29 trees in the Broadview neighborhood, with a crew of 28 volunteers and residents. This was the second planting in Broadview, having also planted in the spring of 2024.

The sheer size of Broadview presents its own challenges. The 219-acre neighborhood has over 530 households. Canopy staff spent weeks leading up to the planting, visiting over 90% of the homes and speaking to hundreds of residents. On planting day, teams were spread throughout the neighborhood, some being almost 3/4 of a mile from each other. Despite these challenges, Canopy's volunteers and team leads worked hard to get every tree in the ground.

The planting was a wonderful example of teamwork and community bonding, which ended with live music, pizza (thanks our partnership with Pizza X) and kids running around, enjoying themselves.

Grandview Hills Neighborhood - March 29

Our March 29 planting in Grandview Hills was another beautiful, overcast morning. With the help of 55 volunteers and residents, 25 new trees were planted in the neighborhood. The planting drew a crew of about 15 Girl Scouts and their parents from local troops, many of whom had planted trees before. It was another festive day, ending with pizza, conversation and live music.

The week following the planting, Team Canopy filmed Executive Director Ava Hartman planting a tree in Grandview Hills, hoping it will serve as a useful tool for others considering planting on their own, or again with Canopy in the future.

Arden Place Neighborhood - April 5 (now moved to April 26)

Unfortunately, Canopy's final neighborhood planting for the season had to be postponed from April 5 to April 26 due to ground (and rain) conditions. The City of Bloomington received over 7 inches of rain in the first five days of April!

We were (and still are) scheduled to plant 43 trees in Arden Place, with a mix of 50 volunteers and residents committed to the April 5 planting. We are hopeful we will have around the same number commit to our new date.

If you are interested in planting with us on April 26, click below to quickly sign-up.

April 26 Planting

What have we learned?

Team Canopy has learned much this spring, which will be carried forward to our fall season of plantings. Perhaps above all, we have learned how important it is to have good partners at all levels, including the city, in the neighborhoods and with community organizations. We also appreciate another great partner, Bluestone Tree. We could not be nearly as effective in our work without their help with tree storage, mulch and other logistics. Thank you!

We have also found ways to streamline our plantings this spring, from our registration process; to the online maps, checklists and tools we provide out team leads; to our engagement and communication strategies. These will always be works in progress, but we continue to seek ways to make these plantings more productive, more rewarding for everyone and, more festive and fun! We hope these efforts are noticeable.

The big picture ...

While getting more trees in the ground is always a priority ("growing and sustainably managing Bloomington's urban tree canopy" is baked into our mission), engaging and building a community that understands and appreciates the value of a healthy and robust tree canopy, is where our real, lasting impact can be found.

So far this spring, we have engaged over 200 volunteers and residents to plant trees alongside us. THANK YOU for your commitment and support! Thank you also for being tree stewards, tree ambassadors and investors into the future of your communities.

Onward!