Agenda Date: 01/20/2026
Subject:
Title
2026 Update on Urban Forestry Management Plan and the City of Littleton Tree Manual
Body
From:
James L. Becklenberg, City Manager
Prepared by:
Brent Soderlin, Public Works Director
Mary Danser, City Forester
Diana Kamenel Trettin, Manager of Grounds, Open Space and Natural Resources
Presentations:
Brent Soderlin, Public Works Director
Mary Danser, City Forester
Diana Kamenel Trettin, Manager of Grounds, Open Space and Natural Resources
PURPOSE:
To present the 2026 update on the City's Urban Forestry Management Plan and Tree Manual.
LONG-TERM OUTCOME(S) SERVED:
Sustainable Community with Natural Beauty
DISCUSSION:
It is crucial that staff have a strategic plan if the city wants to protect and grow its urban canopy. The urban environment is harsh on tree health and there are a lot of upcoming challenges that the city will have to navigate to, at minimum, preserve the existing canopy that the city has and increase that canopy as directed by Council in 2023. By collecting the data and understanding where things are now compared to where they have been, staff know that the existing canopy is in decline. By using this data to prepare a long-term action plan, staff can set the city up for success for not only preserving what exists but growing it. Some of the benefits of trees in the urban environment include reducing pollution and heat island effect, increasing property value, managing stormwater and improving health among residents through cleaner air.
BACKGROUND:
Littleton's Grounds, Open Space and Natural Resources Division has spent the last five years gathering data on Littleton's urban forest, rebuilding the division to include forestry staff and creating a supporting Urban Forestry Management Plan to lay the foundation in advancing canopy goals for the City of Littleton. In late 2021, the division hired a City Forester to start laying the framework for a management plan. Since then, an internal inventory and...
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