This year’s annual meeting of Friends featured a new venue where you enjoyed catching up with others over dinner prior to an informative program. We focused on 2015’s accomplishments, as well as upcoming opportunities and challenges for the waterway. The meeting was Thursday, February 4.

Held for the first time at the Riviera Club, a short business meeting was followed by a speaker from the Conservation Law Center (CLC), the not-for-profit organization assisting FOWR with negotiations involving a controversial flood control project on the city’s northside. William W. Weeks, the attorney who led the discussion on unnecessary tree removal along the shoreline of the Warfleigh Levee, explained our progress to date on that issue.

A big thank you to our meeting sponsors!

Friends has successfully negotiated an agreement with the City of Indianapolis and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers that will provide for preservation of riverbank trees along more than 80% of  a segment of the waterway on the city’s north side. In addition, it will provide for improvement of river access on two sites within some of the highest quality fish and wildlife habitat in the metropolitan area. The agreement will require approval of the Washington, D.C office of the Corps before it is finalized for final review by attorneys for both parties.

Continue reading Warfleigh settlement →

Citizens Energy Group, our longtime partner, has entered a video competition that could benefit the Friends — with your help! Our Annual White River Cleanup is the subject of the video and the competition is the Super Service Challenge, a nationwide challenge that encourages companies to donate their time, share stories of service, and win funding for nonprofits in their communities. Your vote can qualify the Friends to win money, from $500 to $1,000 in donations!

Continue reading Vote for our cleanup! →