Throwing shade in the city
Denver’s getting a boost of shade this spring with hundreds of new trees thanks to The Park People.
The nonprofit organization held its annual Denver Digs Trees event in mid-April and distributed about 1,000 trees to people across the city.
“The Park People is a nonprofit organization dedicated to working with communities to plant trees and improve parks for a healthy, resilient future,” said Lindsay Cutler, program director for The Park People.
Since 1969, The Park People has provided more than 75,000 trees to the community, which would be enough trees cover to span the state of Colorado from east to west.
Denver Digs Trees offers free and low-cost trees to homeowners, renters, HOAs, schools, businesses, affordable housing communities and more inside Denver's city limits. Leftover trees are then put on sale for anyone to buy, including residents of Denver and surrounding suburbs.
Denver Water provides funding to help the nonprofit reach its goals.
“Planting trees is an important component of Denver Water’s landscape transformation program to expand and protect our tree canopy, which is why we partner with experts like The Park People to achieve that goal,” said Bea Stratton, landscape transformation project manager at Denver Water.
The Park People provides shade trees of different sizes that thrive in Denver’s dry climate.
Cutler said Denver’s tree canopy is about 60% of where the city would like it to be, which is why programs like Denver Digs Trees are so important to help expand the city’s tree canopy.
Stratton said trees offer many benefits, in addition to adding beauty to landscapes.
“The shade that trees provide creates water-saving benefits for the adjacent landscapes. For example, Kentucky bluegrass planted near and under shade trees requires less water than grass in full sun,” Stratton said.
Additional tree benefits include cooling from the shade, creating habitat for pollinators, filtering stormwater, purifying air and creating gathering places.
“One of the things we love about the Denver Digs Trees event is that The Park People also provides education on how to water trees correctly in dry years as well as wet years, so recipients of the new trees have the information they need to have success with their trees,” Stratton said.
Online registration for the Denver Digs Trees event, via The Park People’s website, runs each year from early January to mid-February. The Park People review and approve each request, and either check each site or provide tips on types of trees and best locations to plant.
The Park People is a nonprofit organization that relies on donations and volunteers to achieve their mission. Its Community Hub also has great information, including tree lists, a planting guide, watering tips and more.
“The Denver Digs Trees pickup event is the happiest week of the year. I say week because we're in it every single day this week,” Cutler said.
“There’s so much energy and enthusiasm, and just the vision of another tiny baby forest being planted every single year fills me up and gives me energy to just keep on going with this wonderful work.”