What Does the City Cover?

Grand Junction Street and Park Tree Maintenance Information

Maintenance

Grand Junction is one of the few cities in Colorado that provides maintenance for trees within street rights-of-way.

These free services include tree planting, pruning, removal, and priority plant health care treatments. Visit the Forestry webpage at gjcity.org/forestry to find links within this document.

Click here to request tree maintenance / Click here to request new tree planting

Tree services are required to have an arborist license issued from the City to cut, prune, or remove trees within Grand Junction City limits. It is unlawful for any company to engage in tree work without a license, and you can find the current list of Grand Junction’s licensed tree services by clicking here.

Water -Trees in Grand Junction need supplemental water to survive.

Residents living adjacent to public street trees are responsible for providing water to maintain the good health of trees. Our trees rarely tap into groundwater, and they need us to provide irrigation to survive. Water conservation is important, but there are significant environmental, economic, and social benefits that justify the need to invest water in growing tree canopy. Converting landscapes from watered grass to rock often leads to tree decline and death, be sure to continue supplying water through drip irrigation when conversions must be made.

Protection of Trees

It is against the law in Grand Junction to prune, cut, destroy or in any manner injure a public tree. Unlawful removal of or damage to a public tree can lead to legal action (including compensation of appraised tree value). Always contact Grand Junction Forestry prior to taking any maintenance action on a public tree. 

Public Tree Inventory – Click here to View City Trees (gjpr.org/gjtreemap)

Many of the City’s public trees have been inventoried and can be viewed online. Determining where private property ends and street right-of-way begins can be complicated. In general, trees located between public sidewalks and the street are public trees. However, in neighborhoods where sidewalks are connected to the street, the right-of-way can vary from street to street making identification of public trees more difficult. As a rule, if a tree is growing near the street, it is worth the time to verify ownership by emailing forestry@gjcity.org.

Below is a general overview of how street rights-of-way look along a roadway: