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Planet Geo: Commerce City tree canopy only 3.8%; report urges urban forester and targeted plantings
Summary
Planet Geo presented a 2023 tree canopy assessment showing Commerce City has just 3.8% canopy cover, with 45% of land identified as suitable for future plantings. The report recommends hiring an urban forester, updating policy, and piloting planting projects in priority neighborhoods.
Hannah Gregory, a GIS analyst with Planet Geo, told the council the city's tree canopy is low compared with peer communities on the Front Range. "We found that Commerce City is covered in canopy 3.8%," she said, noting the assessment used 2023 NAEP imagery and US Forest Service standards. The analysis identified that roughly 45% of the city's area is suitable for future plantings while 51% is currently unsuitable due to land use or site conditions.
Planet Geo combined a canopy assessment with a sample public‑tree inventory of about 4,000 trees and found 80% of sampled trees on public land were in fair, good or excellent condition, but that species diversity is limited: about four species make up roughly 65% of the inventory and Siberian Elm alone accounts for about a quarter. The consultants used i‑Tree tools to estimate benefits and said current canopy delivers more than $420,000 in annual avoided infrastructure costs.
To guide next steps, Planet Geo recommended a 12‑variable prioritization across census block groups — including heat exposure, socioeconomic factors and soil constraints — and urged the city to hire an urban forester, set neighborhood‑level canopy targets, and pilot coordinated plantings in high‑opportunity areas. "An urban forester would be a great next step to have a dedicated individual to ensure that those initiatives ... are implemented successfully," Gregory said.
Council members probed funding and operational details. City Manager Simandra Rogers said the presentation is a policy‑level assessment and staff must conduct further operational due diligence — including irrigation, soil improvements and multi‑year budgeting — before committing to specific staffing or capital asks. Rogers told the council staff will work internally to refine cost estimates and propose programmatic steps to align with the city's strategic plan and future budget cycles. The study produced a data baseline staff can use to pursue grants and pilots; no formal vote was taken.
