Thousands of dead, dying trees to be removed from Chatfield State Park
KDVR Fox 31
DENVER (KDVR) — Crews will begin to remove thousands of trees from Chatfield State Park this week, with work to start at the north boat ramp and continue down the western shores.
The project is expected to take place over the next six months and stop at the South Platte River. The embedded map shows where tree removal operations will impact the reservoir.
The work is set to be done by the Chatfield Reservoir Mitigation Company, Inc. The company's environmental consultants conducted annual tree surveys of the state park and found that the cottonwoods and willows in the high-water storage area of the reservoir are in decline or dead.
Because of this, about 2,700 trees have been marked for removal during the upcoming work. An additional 2,300 cottonwoods could be removed in the next project phase, which would start in winter 2025.
Colorado Parks and Wildlife assured Chatfield visitors in a release that these trees represent "less than one percent of the overall number of trees living in Chatfield State Park, and they will be repurposed for stream stabilization and mulch."
All of this is part of the Chatfield Storage Reallocation Project, which was designed to provide water for the area. The Chatfield Environmental Pool was approved in January 2014 and can store 20,600 acre-feet of water.
In May 2023, the project reached a milestone: It had met its full multi-purpose water storage capacity, and due to sustained precipitation and cooler temperatures, the reservoir remained fuller for longer than anticipated. Because of this, the damage to the submerged trees has been accelerated.
Will Chatfield Reservoir no longer have trees in the water?
The project will remove almost all of the trees with a submerged base, according to CPW Public Information Officer Kara Van Hoose. She said the trees on the western side of the reservoir will be removed, with the two-year project slated to remove around 5,000 trees.
However, tree removal was expected by land managers. In 2018, the Chatfield Reservoir Mitigation Company started planting trees.
“While it is difficult to watch our trees decline, the loss of these existing trees was expected and accounted for through our environmental mitigation projects at Chatfield State Park,” said Charly Hoehn, Program Manager for CRMC. “We are also already seeing signs of cottonwood and willow regeneration occurring at the higher elevation bands around the reservoir. In time, we expect to see beautiful new tree stands take hold around the park.”
Groups of planted cottonwoods, willows and other shrubs have begun to thrive in protected cottonwood regeneration zones. More than 100,000 trees and shrubs have been planted, CPW said, and will create established, healthy and resilient tree stands.
“We have enjoyed having the cottonwood and willow trees in the reservoir for the past two years and been pleased by the new recreating opportunities the trees provided our visitors,” said Colorado Parks and Wildlife Chatfield Park Manager Kris Wahlers. “We explored all options to keep the trees, but since they did not survive, we have to do what’s best for our visitors. Safety is our main priority, especially while you’re out on the water.”
CPW said trees have started to fall and lose large limbs, which endangers park visitors. Dead trees are especially prone to falling during high winds, and as the reservoir freezes during the winter, the trees become even more destabilized, sometimes even getting pushed over by the ice pressure.
The Chatfield Storage Reallocation Project said in a May newsletter that summer conditions were not conducive for tree removal, and the goal was to wait until winter months. It also allows for compliance with the Migratory Bird Treaty Act.
To protect against potential habitat loss for bird populations in the area, CPW is working with environmental; contractors to mitigate possible impacts. That means the project has been scheduled outside of nesting seasons and will not disturb any active nests. Additionally, CPW noted that no bald eagle pairs have historically nested in the cottonwoods slated for removal.
“The park’s bird population should not be impacted by the project long-term,” said Wahlers. “With the habitat mitigation and robust planting operation, bird species will have many nest opportunities. We’ve seen the bird population thrive through two prior tree removal operations.”
There will be some closures at the park in the one-day use area to allow ground crews to complete their work. Helicopter work is expected to start after Thanksgiving, CPW said, and all closures can be found on the park's website and social media channels.