<
https://civileats.com/2025/09/29/denvers-food-forests-provide-free-fruit-while-greening-the-environment/>
"The urban tree canopy in Denver is one of the sparsest in the country. Only 15
percent of the Colorado capital enjoys tree cover, and that figure drops to a
mere 4 percent for the downtown area.
In 2020, when Linda Appel Lipsius became executive director of the decades-old
Denver Urban Gardens (DUG) network, which oversees more than 200 community
vegetable gardens throughout six metro Denver counties, she wanted to continue
increasing community access to fresh food—a longtime goal of the garden
program. But she had another aim, too: increasing the city’s tree coverage.
Thinking back to techniques she had learned at the Denver Permaculture Guild,
Appel Lipsius decided to build a system of food forests throughout the Denver
area. These dense, layered plantings incorporate fruit-bearing trees with other
perennials to mimic natural forests.
Now, DUG oversees 26 food forests, with 600 or so fruit and nut trees and 600
berry bushes.
While urban trees are recognized for their multiple benefits, including cooling
and carbon drawdown, “there are not a lot of players in Denver, or even in most
cities around the country, who are focused on food trees,” Appel Lipsius said.
“We were able to step into this space to help build and bolster the canopy
while adding food-producing perennials.”"
Via
Reasons to be Cheerful:
<
https://reasonstobecheerful.world/what-were-reading-denver-flourishing-food-forests/>
Share and enjoy,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
