City of Denver plans to plant 500 new trees over the next three years.

Take a step outside in Downtown Denver and you'll notice that there's a surprising lack of green scape across the city. But that could soon change, and in a few decades, you could be strolling down the streets shaded by Honey Locusts or Pear Trees. At least, that's the plan made by the Downtown Denver Partnership, Denver Parks and Recreation, and property owners, who are aiming to drastically improve the tree canopy in the city’s core by adding hundreds of trees to a loop through downtown.

If you were to count all the trees in Downtown Denver, you would count around 1,800 trees, which covers about four percent of the area. So, not that much. And when you compare our tree coverage to the other top 20 biggest cities, Denver is in dead last place for the amount of tree coverage, according to the Downtown Denver Partnership.

"I think if you walk our streets on a hot day, we all sort of realize what it’s like to have a city with a downtown core with very little shade," said Randy Thelen, vice president of economic development for the Partnership, in a statement.

The plan to plant and maintain the number of trees in talks right now would add up to about $9 million. The hope of planting and maintaining so many trees is to fill the gaps in the sparse canopy across the city. To cover the cities with 10 percent shade, there would need to be upwards of 2,500 trees planted. 

Proposed area to receive new trees in the next few years. Courtesy of Denver Parks and Recreation

There's a Reson Denver Is So Bare From Trees

Trees in urban settings tend to not live as long of a life as their natural counterparts. There's shallow soil in downtown areas, less natural water, more chemicals in the water from snow-melt, and enough litter to make a difference. Plus, the heat-island effect takes place, which is essentially a hyper-local climate produced from the concrete and steel in the buildings and roads in the downtown area.

To note, when dealing with greenery in a not-so-perfect area for greenery to grow, you have to maintain it and that costs money—pruning, fertilizing, and watering. 

Another part of this process is the types of trees that are chosen to be planted. In years past, there have been trees that were planted in downtown that probably should not have been planted there due to the needs of those specific trees. Now, a certain type of tree or trees to be planted has yet to be announced, but there are certain varieties of trees that would do well here; oaks, elms, honey locusts, pears, Peking lilacs, Japanese lilacs, and Kentucky coffeetrees.

The trees will ultimately help ward off the summertime hear in the downtown area, but it will also help to lessen the effects of climate change. 

"The impervious area of the downtown core is the highest anywhere throughout the City and County of Denver," said Mark Berstein, head of downtown planning for Parks and Recreation, during a City Council committee meeting Tuesday. "We also know, too, on many days, particularly in the summer, air quality is poor. As we continue to experience a growing downtown population, it really becomes imperative that we think really critically about how we are going to create a healthy downtown."

As we head into the next few years, try to plant trees yourself or find a way to make your life a little greener.