Snow has been coming down across Cheyenne, and so are more cottonwood trees.
That has neighbors of Holliday Park steamed, and they’re asking questions about some of the targeted trees, which they said appeared to still have a lot of life left in them, based on their inspection of the remaining stumps.
Last time trees were cut in Holliday Park in March 2024, neighbors of Holliday Park and Cowboy State Daily were told it was because the trees were old and near the end of their lifespans. At that time, locals told Cowboy State Daily more than 160 trees had been cut down in Holliday and other city parks. Another 20 have been taken down recently, including some this week.
“This time they are cutting younger, healthier trees,” Cheyenne resident and Holliday Park neighbor Buck McVeigh told Cowboy State Daily. “The contractors even admitted these are healthy trees — just ‘doing what the city told them to do.’”
The trees McVeigh was referring to were located by a playground area.
“Last year they were saying, ‘Well, we’re cutting down old diseased trees that are a hazard to the public,’” said Richard Garrett, who is also a Cheyenne resident and a neighbor of the park. “But I guess one question I have is, well, what’s happened in the last several months since then that all of a sudden these trees present a problem?”
Garrett said his inquiries about why seemingly healthy trees are being cut down have so far been stymied, so he reached out to Cowboy State Daily.
“They just seem intent on clear-cutting Holliday Park,” he said. “That is our state tree that they’re cutting down right now, and I’m not an arborist or a forester, but I’ve got pictures of every single stump (by the playground), and there’s no rot in them. There’s nothing to the lay person’s eye that looks like they should be cut down in my opinion.”
Following The Process
City Forrester Mark Ellis told Cowboy State Daily that all of the cottonwood trees being cut down were flagged this past summer during routine pruning and inspections.
“We don’t cut trees down haphazardly,” he said. “These trees have all been pruned several times. And we evaluate them at the end of the summer every year.”
Ellis said they look at the number of dead branches, and they check each tree to ensure there aren’t extensive pockets of decay.
“We go through a process, and we have a tree inventory program where we log all the activity that occurs to these trees — pruning, water, disease, treatment all that stuff,” he said. “They’re managed pretty intensely. We don’t just walk through the park and just decide, ‘Hey, this tree is coming down today.’ There’s a process involved.”
Some of those details are recorded in a public database that’s part of the city’s tree inventory system, Ellis said. The city, however, keeps more detailed notes on each tree that are not publicly accessible.
Cowboy State Daily has requested the detailed notes on each tree being cut down.
Ellis said he’d look at how best to share that information, but had not shared it as of the time this article was posted.
‘It’s Tragic’
To McVeigh and Garrett, the explanations don’t hold much weight.
“If that’s the case, I mean, just drive around Cheyenne, and all the wonderful trees that we see along the streets and sidewalks must all be a safety issue,” McVeigh said. “Are they going to close all the streets and the sidewalks?”
McVeigh and Garrett both said they agree that many of Holliday Park’s trees are on the older side — and that the clock is likely ticking for them — but both feel, based on what they’ve seen, that some trees are being cut down well before they’ve actually reached the end.
“It’s tragic. These trees provide sanctuary, and they provide shade for families,” Garrett said. “Last summer, families were, I walked through this park all the time, and families were playing had having picnics, sitting out underneath the trees. If these trees were so dangerous, why didn’t the city ribbon them off to keep people from sitting under them?”
McVeigh, meanwhile, said he had an arborist who was looking at some of his trees examine the stumps of trees cut down last year in Holliday Park.
“Yeah, there’s nothing wrong with this one,” McVeigh recalled her saying. “That’s the brash move, to take them completely out. These trees would have lived a long time with just some pruning.”
McVeigh added that he thinks it’s laudable to plant a second canopy, as has been explained to him by the city, but that he feels the existing one shouldn’t be retired before there’s an actual problem.
“Let the first one live out its time,” he said. “If you want a second canopy, more power to you, that’s the way to plan for the next generation. But leave the first one here, do everything you can to keep it viable.”
The trees, McVeigh added, were planted by Cheyenne’s ancestors as a gift to future generations and should be preserved as long as possible.
Twigs piled to one side, and a trailer are loaded with wood from cottonwoods removed from Holliday Park. (Renee Jean, Cowboy State Daily) 
Some of the wood from trees being removed from Holliday Park. (Renee Jean, Cowboy State Daily) 
Left, the stump of a tree locals called Old 49 shows some signs of compromise, but neighbors of the tree feel it had a lot of life left. Right, the stumps of 10 younger trees removed at Holiday Park in Cheyenne. (Courtesy Buck McVeigh) 
A worker watches as a colleague finishes removing the stump of a tree from Holliday Park. (Renee Jean, Cowboy State Daily) 
The stump of this tree, recently removed from Holliday Park, does show signs of compromise. (Renee Jean, Cowboy State Daily)
It’s Not Just Cottonwoods
Ellis told Cowboy State Daily the city can’t wait until a tree is actually dangerous to cut it down when it’s in a public space where children play.
“I know it’s hard to swallow,” he said. “But we’ve got to be a little more proactive and keep safety in mind. So that’s why we’re doing these removals.”
Not all of the trees taken down this year in Holliday Park were cottonwoods, Ellis added. Of the 20 trees slated for destruction, one was a willow and five were spruce. The latter were casualties of a pine beetle attack.
“The beetles are killing the trees,” Ellison said. “So, we had to remove those not only because they’re dead and dying, but because we don’t want the beetle to spread.”
The logs from those trees are being handled differently to avoid spreading the infestation.
Ellis said beetles have been a problem for many spruce trees in Cheyenne, which is being exacerbated by dry weather.
“Their vigor is important to fending off beetle attacks, so winter watering for them is really important, especially when we’re having a dry winter,” he said.
Spruce trees can be watered when the ground is not frozen, Ellis said, or on warmer days where the temperature has risen about 40 degrees.
“Conifers don’t lose their leaves, they don’t go into dormancy like our deciduous trees, so they’re continuing to transpire even in the winter,” he explained. “So, they need to replace that water that they’re losing through transpiration. And if we don’t have snow cover, if we don’t have snow that melts into the root system, then we have to supplementally water those trees.”
Winter watering is even more important when conditions have been dry going into winter.
Renée Jean can be reached at renee@cowboystatedaily.com.
