Overview:
The City of Denver, in partnership with community organizations and citizens, is working to keep the area's tree canopy healthy.
“Denver had a tree program where you signed up and it was free, and then they (The Park People) would come and plant trees for you,” said resident Phil Bouchard. “They showed up and they had the selection of trees on a truck, so I let them put two in my front yard.”
Those trees came from Denver Digs Trees, The Park People’s program that provides over 1,000 free and low-cost trees to Denver residents. One of the trees that Bouchard had in his yard took years to grow from a stick to a tree despite sprinklers regularly running on his property in Valverde. Just before he planned on taking it out of the ground, “a ‘Charlie Brown Christmas’ situation” occurred, and it finally bloomed.
“The thing about getting people to plant trees is it’s kind of a whole thing, right?” Bouchard said, “I’m into landscaping and stuff, so I’m fine with digging a massive hole and doing all that, but Susie Q is not just gonna go plant a bunch of trees because they’re expensive and it’s a lot of work. I’d just like some increased education about what type of trees actually make sense in Denver, what their value is and then maybe helping people switch out the trees they have for ones that make more sense.”
Bouchard’s insights on the challenges of tree planting due to a lack of educational resources come at a time when a recent analysis states that Metro Denver’s tree canopy has not exceeded 16.7 percent in the past five years. Denver Parks & Recreation (DPR) reflects on Denver’s strategic plan to grow trees and says the city’s tree canopy is doing well given its climate.
“I might respectfully push back a bit on that statement,” said Elizabeth Judd, Urban Forestry Planner for DPR. “So, tree canopy and tree canopy goals should be oriented around climate and geographic location. If you look at some of the really wet locations on the East Coast, I know Atlanta is cited often, Denver looks low. But when you actually compare Denver to other arid (and) semi-arid western cities, we are all right around the same numbers.”
While peer cities like Salt Lake City published that their canopy coverage is at 15 percent and Phoenix is at 11 percent, Denver is at 16.7 percent. Other Colorado cities fall around the same tree canopy coverage percentage as Denver, with Colorado Springs at 17 percent and Fort Collins at 13 percent.
According to DPR’s 2024 annual report, published in January, the urban forestry team planted 1,276 trees in over 1,000 properties in the city, with 60% of trees planted in neighborhoods with low tree canopy coverage.
“We do focus our outreach on the equity neighborhoods. We don’t restrict planting,” Judd said. “Anybody can request a tree and get one added. But we do focus on outreach and most years we have, and it varies a bit, about 60 percent in equity neighborhoods.”
Nonprofit organizations are also participating in addressing Denver’s tree canopy coverage by closing in on the tree equity gap within the city. For example, Park People has been planting trees in Denver since 1969 and planted 1,500 trees this year through its Denver Digs Trees program, with 70 percent of those trees being planted in low-canopy neighborhoods.
Communications Manager Mackenzie Sanders expressed that trees in these neighborhoods can cool the area by fifteen degrees and provide health and safety benefits. “Trees can serve to counteract the broken window effect,” Sanders said. “If people in your area see you planting a tree or gardening, it’s not only a very cost-efficient way to take care of and shade your home, but also a signal to your neighborhood of ‘I care about my community.’”
Both the Park People and DPR provide resources for community members to sustain their trees throughout the year. Resources and services include recurring tree site inspections, tree health checks and watering. Judd emphasized how it takes a village to raise a tree and how efforts towards sustaining trees are more crucial than just planting them.
“People get really excited about planting; I wish they got as excited about those other aspects. It really is a collective effort,” Judd said. “We couldn’t do this without our partners. We all have a slightly different niche role, and it also really takes the public. As much maintenance as the city could take on, we’ll never be able to do it all. Never be able to water every tree here in Denver. There’s always a certain level of engagement that we’re looking for from the public.”
DPR tree planting is free. The Park People lists their trees at $15 in “focused neighborhoods” and $50 in all other Denver neighborhoods. With most tree planting efforts being more effective on designated days within the year, such as Arbor Day and Earth Day, and tree planting typically being limited to temperatures lower than 80 degrees Fahrenheit, DPR is making an effort to engage more with the community throughout the year.
While repopulating Denver’s tree canopy is the city’s environmental goal each year, community members can also individually experience a sense of deep fulfillment after planting a tree in their yard or an area in need of shade within their community. Bouchard says the trees he received from The Park People have been “great overall” for his property, and neighbors give “compliments on them frequently.”
“This Charlie Brown Christmas situation it’s funny, but yeah, we saw it run its course,” Bouchard admits. “And in the weeks before it finally did bloom, it was just like a miracle.”
