Mayor: City on track for heat-pump and tree-planting goals; ash borer detection prompts follow-up with Parks and Rec

The mayor briefed the Denver City Council that the city is progressing on climate goals for the year — including heat pumps, electric-vehicle chargers and tree plantings — while council members asked for a Parks and Recreation update after ash-borer detections. The mayor said the climate goal aimed to add 2,000 heat pumps, EV chargers and solar arrays; the city has installed about 1,000 and has contracted for more than 3,000 additional units, the mayor said. On urban canopy work, officials reported about 3,000 trees planted to date and said tree-planting efforts are about 70% complete toward the year goal. Councilman Lawson raised the emerald ash borer question and asked how the city is scaling tree-shade work in light of the insect's arrival; the mayor said Parks and Recreation is aware, is taking proactive steps and the administration will arrange a briefing or a return presentation to council with more detail on the city—orestry response and SmartAsh prework. Why this matters: heat pumps, EV infrastructure and expanded tree canopy are central to the city—limate-resilience and heat-island mitigation strategies; ash-borer detection can threaten canopy goals and requires coordinated arborist and parks responses. Ending: The mayor offered to have Parks and Recreation provide a detailed briefing to the council on ash-borer response and next steps for preserving tree canopy.