Our Blog

Read here to learn more about your tree's water needs. It’s that time of year when you sit out on your patio and smell the neighbor’s sprinklers as they rotate back and forth across the grass, hitting the fence and sometimes the street. Irrigation systems are an enormous timesaver and are often the make it or break it element to thriving landscapes in Denver. But are they delivering enough water to your trees? And if you don’t have one, how much water should you be giving those trees? We've got tips for several watering methods, including hose, bucket, drip irrigation, and spray irrigation. Remember, watering trees is an investment. The shade trees provide decreases water loss to evaporation,  more so than the amount of water required to keep them healthy. Plus, if you're willing to go the extra mile, trees can be watered with recycled or already used water. Check out this blog to learn more

The Park People wants to share tips for protecting your trees during Colorado's spring season.

Our spring treecare blog includes: ways to protect buds and newly formed growths that may freeze if temperatures drop, a highlight of The Park People's 4-season Tree Care Guide, how to protect your trees during spring storms, a way to save money and water with rainwater collection, and a reminder for Denver's free mulch giveaway!

As always, you can reach out to our Tree Care Hotline at treecare@TheParkPeople.org with any questions. 

The Park People could not accomplish its incredible work planting trees, improving parks, and greening our city without the support of local champions. Shawn Snelgrove is one of those generous, thoughtful Denverites. She was involved in our program, Community Forester, and quickly became a part of the crew. Seeing the need to steward our urban forest, she decided to use her time and talents to support our organization in more ways than one. 

Not only is she a Denver Community Forester, but Shawn is the Founder and President of Brainstorming A la Mode, Inc. Using her coaching and consulting capabilities, she recently held a training on public speaking, and engagement for facilitators with staff members of The Park People and the Office of the City Forester who teach the Community Forester workshops. It was truly a worthwhile and incredibly helpful experience.

We met up with her and asked her some questions regarding her work with The Park People.

There is a well-documented worker shortage across the country. As hiring demands grow towards pre-pandemic numbers, we’re still seeing inadequate numbers of workers. Many experts note that wage stagnation over the last several decades contributes to this shortage. To make matters more complicated, the number of skilled workers does not match the demand for the crucial, innovative work across industries. There are not enough resources available to help folks transition to better paying, more stable careers. This is also affecting Denver's urban forest.

Our new program Treeforce, laucnhing August 2022, will address these issues.

Read this blog post to learn how we will help fill the worker shortage throughout the greater Denver area, while connecting community members facing barriers to employment to meaningful career paths in urban forestry

Offering nine stunning varieties of urban hardy trees, Denver Digs Trees is back in full swing this year, and it couldn’t be soon enough. Denver is in the midst of an eerily hot and dry winter and fall, following a summer marked by extreme heat, wildfires, and drought. The Front Range will continue to heat up, at least for the next 60 years, even if our carbon emissions were to grind to a halt today. In the face of such daunting challenges, it’s programs like Denver Digs Trees that give Denverites a little control over their immediate environment. Planting a tree is a tangible, dirt-under-the-nails way to take action now that will cool the home, shade the street, and provide beauty and joy for generations.

Trees help mitigate climate change, capture and clean stormwater, filter air pollutants, moderate urban heat, and reduce energy use. They are essential components of a healthy city, from the upper reaches of their limbs scraping the sky to the expanse of their roots hugging the soil. Each tree is an integral part of the larger urban forest, working in concert to combat the urban heat island effect and create a safer, more walkable Denver.