Durango is home to more than 12,000 trees – nearly one for every two residents. Whether that’s the right varieties, in the right amounts, in the right places is a question worth asking. This year’s theme – coping with climate change and rapid development – makes it more urgent than ever. Answers are likely to emerge this Friday and Saturday at DurangoScape2026, the Durango Botanic Gardens’ annual tree advocacy event, held at the DoubleTree Hotel.
Friday’s session, from 6 to 8 p.m., features local voices: Jeff Wagner, founder of the La Plata County Tree Study Group, and Ben Rieck, the city’s arborist supervisor. The evening also includes a video tribute to Peter Carver – who died in an avalanche in 2023 – commemorating the Carver family’s planting of 100 trees along Rim Drive in his memory.
Saturday’s program, from 1 to 5 p.m., brings in two out-of-town experts: Grand Junction’s city forester, speaking on elevating green infrastructure as a local priority, and Fort Collins’ senior forestry specialist, addressing how to combat tree stress. Rounding out the afternoon are local presenter Mike Smedley – known for weaving humor into his talks – this time on “choice plants” that thrive beneath those 12,000-plus trees, and CSU Extension horticulturist Heather Houk.
Every community needs trees, especially in the arid West, where the sun shines brightly and often. Register at durangoscape.org: $30 for Durango Botanic Gardens members, and $50 for those who really ought to be. Our guess is that there should be more than 12,000.
