Blue Spruce – Softwood

Climb #18
Oct 4, 2026
Denver City Park

The urban forest is a forest too!

The state tree of Colorado is the Blue Spruce.  My trip there allowed me to reconnect with childhood friend, and fellow arborist, Jared O’Brien.  Jared founded O’Brien Tree Care in Colorado 2 decades ago and now serves the greater Denver area.  Our first adventure took us through southern Colorado.  A highlight for me was the Ludlow Massacre historic site.  Here in 1914 nation guard troops fired on striking coal miners and torched their tent town with kerosene.  Woody Guthrie’s song tells you all you need to know so start there.   We found some incredible Colorado history but no Blue Spruce.  Next I ventured into El Dorado Canyon state park.  Wow!  The natural beauty of the geology and Ponderosa Pine forest is unreal.  But other than 2 saplings at the park visitors center, no Blue Spruce.

 Jared had been telling me about Denver City park and the Spruce trees there for several days but I didn’t want to hear it.  I had a misconceived vision that only Blue Spruce “deep in the forest” matters for this project.  With only hours left in my visit I settled for the visit to City Park.  It was here that Jared discussed the ongoing challenge in Colorado regarding increased development (houses and sprawl) and a limited water supply.   The more water diverted to humans, the less water there is for nature, forests, and trees.  In drought conditions local trees are visibly suffering.  Maple trees go from green to brown, skipping fall colors.  Cottonwoods are dying back along what used to be wet stream channels.  These urban trees are a visible wake-up call to citizens that things are stressed.  Forsters have known this for years, the challenge is getting our fellow Americans to see this and make it a priority.  Maybe these urban forests will help get the attention of all people and lead to more action.  It took a Blue Spruce tree in Denver City park to get my attention.  In the end I realized this was exactly the forest I was meant to see; the urban forest.  Thank you Jared!