🌳 Growing a Greener New Albany

The City of New Albany is proud to once again be recognized as both a Tree City USA and Tree City of the World by the Arbor Day Foundation, marking our fifth consecutive year receiving the Tree City USA distinction. This recognition is especially meaningful as 2026 marks the 50th anniversary of the Tree City USA program.

“Growing healthy trees in an urban environment takes planning and commitment,” stated Mayor Jeff Gahan. “We will continue working with our tree board and other professionals to make good decisions about protecting our tree canopy and to keep it healthy now and long into the future. I especially want to thank Indiana DNR for their efforts in helping keep our urban canopy strong.”

Recently, the City of New Albany was awarded a grant by the Indiana Department of Natural Resources that helped complete an inventory of trees throughout the city as well as a management plan to help guide our urban forestry management. The inventory showed 7,777 city owned tree sites in public rights of way and parks. The inventory also documented the species and health of each tree in the city.

Krisjans Streips, with the New Albany Tree Board stated “I want to thank DNR for supporting our efforts to have healthy trees in New Albany. Their grant has been instrumental in helping us get designations like Tree City USA and Tree City World.”

These designations reflect our ongoing commitment to maintaining healthy urban trees and the important role they play in our community’s quality of life.

As part of that commitment, the City is continuing environmental cleanup efforts at the former QRS Recycling Center along the New Albany shoreline. This work includes a site evaluation to support healthy tree growth as environmental improvements move forward, helping transform the former recycling center into a beautiful greenspace for users of the Ohio River Greenway.

Over the next week, some trees on the former Recycling Center property, along with understory and brush, will be removed as part of this process. Much of this work will focus on smaller saplings and overgrowth, while numerous large, mature hardwood trees will be preserved and remain in place. While tree removal is sometimes necessary, we remain focused on long-term sustainability. Replacement plantings will help ensure the continued health and growth of our urban tree canopy, building on the hundreds of trees planted across the city each year.