Food forest and gardens in west Denver combat "heat island effect"

Denver Urban Gardens (DUG), a nonprofit that promotes sustainable spaces, is receiving federal recognition for implementing solutions to the "heat island effect" in Denver’s underserved communities.

Heat islands are urbanized areas that experience significantly higher temperatures than outlying areas due to a lack of green spaces, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

“Once you start putting in concrete and blacktop and buildings and glass and metal, the earth loses its ability to sort of absorb the heat, and instead it reflects it, and it raises the temperature," the executive director of Denver Urban Gardens , Linda Appel Lipsius, said. "So when you go into downtown Denver or any city, or any place that doesn't have trees or greenery, there's a noticeable difference. So there's going to be, you know, a five to 10 degree increase because there's no greenery.”

Appel Lipsius said DUG has battled the heat island effect throughout the Denver metro area by helping create 200 community gardens and 24 food forests.

“Food forests are a really, really exciting development. So they're these dense plantings of perennial food producing trees, bushes and vines, and then you're also using land forms to capture water. And so considering the desert climate that we live in, it's just a really intentional way to plant food trees. So we're not just adding shade, but we're adding food to the system,” Appel Lipsius said. “At the end of last year, we were awarded our first grant from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). So we received a $500,000 grant to install six new community gardens and nine food forests over here in the west area... we just got notification that we also got a USDA grant for the same work in the west area. So there's been really tremendous interest. The Gates Family Foundation also gave us a planting grant to focus on putting greening this area."

Appel Lipsius said federal agencies are taking notice because of the positive environmental results where there are community gardens and food forests like the Barnum neighborhood.

“Barnum Orchard is what we call our flagship food forest,” Appel Lipsius said. “It's bringing the community out. It's giving the community agency over their space and over their food supply, which is really wonderful, and then again, sort of creating that greenery that's helping to reduce the heat island effect.”

Palynn Patterson leads the Lowell Community Garden in the Barnum neighborhood.

“We have 52 plots, which is amazing. Each plot is operated by a separate gardener,” Patterson said. “With all of the concrete and the heat around it can be a lot in the summertime, especially when we get these waves of heat. And I have found since I moved here, and with the initiatives from DUG and the park people planting more trees, we've had a little bit more shade, and that feels a lot cooler.”

Patterson said each plot could potentially grow the solution needed to permanently the beat the extreme urban heat.

Food forest and gardens in west Denver combat "heat island" effect

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