Get Involved
Find Your Niche at IFA
Activate your passion for Indiana’s forests by getting involved with the Indiana Forest Alliance. Your time is valuable and we appreciate your efforts on behalf of our state forests. Contact IFA staff to inquire about the latest volunteer opportunities or visit the internship page.
Forests For Indy
The Indiana Forest Alliance is leading the Forests for Indy initiative to protect urban forests in Marion County for the many community benefits they provide. Volunteers are needed to help characterize urban forests and assess protection strategies. Volunteers will be trained to use a report card style checklist and/or the i-Naturalist app. Teams will conduct evaluations from the sidewalk or in forests where we have express permission to enter.
Ecoblitz
The Indiana Forest Alliance has been conducting research to develop a comprehensive inventory of species present within a section of the Hoosier National Forest in Brown County along the Nebo Ridge Trail. We are planning summer surveys for mosses, lichens, plants, insects, amphibians and reptiles, birds and small mammals. Exact dates to be determined
Outreach
Help the Indiana Forest Alliance at festivals and events around the state. You and an IFA staff member will introduce Hoosiers to IFA’s work and discuss the increased logging in our state forests. You’ll also collect signatures for IFA’s State Wild Areas petition.
Contact IFA’s outreach staff for information on the latest outreach opportunities.
Advocacy
Help create an ongoing record of public dissent regarding the unprecedented increase in commercial logging within Indiana’s state forests. From the comfort of your home, you’ll comment on the Department of Natural Resources Division of Forestry plans. The public is allowed a 30-day comment period on these plans. And your voice matters.
Check out the Draft Resource Management Guide section of the IFA website.
Grassroots
IFA’s State Forest coalitions seek volunteers to do forest advocacy at the local level: Mind the Gap and Wild Tecumseh Friends (Yellowwood and Morgan-Monroe State Forests), Owen-Putnam Friends of the Forest, Friends of Salamonie (Salamonie River and Frances Slocum State Forests), Friends of Leota (Knobstone) Wild Area (Clark and Jackson-Washington State Forests), and Friends of Ferdinand (Ferdinand and Harrison-Crawford State Forests). If you have a special place in your heart for your local state forest, please join one of these coalitions or start a new one to meet others who feel the same. Consider helping organize meetings, events, actions, fundraisers, hikes, campfires and campouts, social media, or bringing creative ideas to raise awareness in local communities. Whatever time, skill, or interest you bring will be welcome!
Contact IFA’s outreach staff for information on the latest outreach opportunities.
Social Media
Join IFA on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Share IFA’s work with your networks. Your engagement on social media keeps the message of forest protection and preservation at the forefront of public concern.
Events
Host an Indiana Forest Alliance event. With logistical support from IFA, organize an event to raise awareness about the importance of your public forests. This could take the form of a letter writing party, a bake sale, a square dance, a gathering featuring an IFA speaker, or a 5K walk.
Indianapolis Office
Help IFA reach forest supporters by phone and and invite them to contact their legislators to support pro-forest legislation in the Indiana General Assembly. Work at your convenience, we are flexible.