While travelers flock to Colorado to gawk at autumn leaves, the city of Durango is looking upward at its own treescape and eyeing the future of its urban forest.

Durango Parks and Recreation is conducting a survey of the city’s approximately 12,000 trees of various species to determine maintenance and planning that is needed in the coming years. It contracted PlanIT Geo, a business that specializes in surveying trees for health, safety risks and practical placement, to carry out the inspection.

So far, it appears the city’s treescape is in good shape, PlanIT Geo tree inventory specialist Lexie Anderson said last week. She had spent the last 10 days surveying trees on Durango’s public lands.

She said the treescape is “actually really good,” meaning they’re healthy and provide lots of shade.

“The trees are in pretty good shape,” she said. “Not a lot of high-risk trees, big hazards.”

But Anderson’s survey just started and will continue for about five weeks. She said she has a ways to go before she can offer a complete diagnosis of the city’s treescape.

Aspens, various kinds of maple trees, ash trees and evergreens are among the inventoried species, Rob Shoeber with Durango Parks and Recreation said.

Municipalities like Durango rely on tree inventories to perform risk assessments, evaluate the health of individual trees and determine where to plant certain species in order to cultivate an urban forest bountiful in shade and aesthetics. Trees grow slowly, so prudent planning is paramount to success.

Interim Parks and Recreation Director Scott McClain said the survey will help the city identify areas of town that might be lacking trees compared to other neighborhoods and find opportunities to plant more trees.

“It also gives us the ability to sample (trees) up on a map,” he said. “Be able to look back at history – are those species growing? Are they doing well here? (Are) there different species we should be considering?”

The survey should also provide insight into areas where trees are more impacted by pests and if planting more diversification of tree species could combat the problem. But for the most part, particular pests like the invasive Siberian Elm species, hardy trees that gulp up water and provide elm seeds the aptly named – and invasive – elm seed bugs love, will be considered in a “big picture discussion” about the city’s treescape, McClain said.

“The inventory is really going to be focused on, like, our street trees, the ones that are within the street right of way, and then the ones that are in our public parks on public lands,” he said. “The alleyways (where Siberian elms are plentiful), we have not mapped in the past and are not asking the consultant to do that as well.

“Alleyways (are) a good example of where we see a lot of Siberian elms. That won’t be inventoried, but the report will still address (the elms),” he said. “Here’s some thoughts, ideas, directions that the city should be considering for maintaining them, or how do we handle it?”

After the tree inventory survey, McClain wants to get the public involved in determining the next steps for Durango’s treescape.

He said he is still working out the details, should the city hold an open house or some kind of public forum. But he is interested in hearing which direction community members want to take in planning for the future of the city’s trees.

The city will work with a contractor to review the survey results alongside community input and prioritize the work ahead of it, he said.

“How many trees do we need to do maintenance on per year? How many calls do we have for residents and those kinds of things that will just give us a better picture as we move forward,” he said.

The survey will also help the city become more proactive in managing its treescape, versus a reactive approach to maintenance such as removing hazardous branches only after the trees are reported.

In 2020, the city of Durango was awarded its 40th Tree City USA award. Tree City USA is an Arbor Day Foundation program dedicated to “greening up cities and towns across America that started in 1976, according to the city of Durango.

The city has been designated as a Tree City USA “in excess of 40 years” and is the second largest municipality in Colorado to hold that title, Shoeber said.

“The community is very engaged in our urban forest. We estimate we have in the neighborhood of 12,000 trees,” he said. “Any time we are removing or replacing or replacing trees, people are always involved in that, more so than in other communities.”

cburney@durangoherald.com