Denver Urban Gardens started as a grassroots movement in the 1970s when North Denver neighbors created space for a group of local Hmong women to grow their own food. After transforming a vacant parking lot into the Pecos Community Garden, the group helped other neighbors start gardens, too. DUG officially became a nonprofit in 1985, and over the past four decades, it has grown and distributed more than 62,000 pounds of food throughout the metro area. In the nonprofitâs new food forest spaces, neighbors are welcome to enter and harvest a wide assortment of fruits, nuts, and berries. And unlike in DUGâs community gardens, where people pay a fee to have their own plots, this bounty is free. Beyond providing fresh food in neighborhoods that need it most, these agroforests reduce the urban heat island effect, create pollinator habitat, and combat pollution and climate change by absorbing and filtering harmful gases. They also create much-needed green space within communities. âTrees are so beneficial for mental health, neighborhood security, and certainly temperatures,â Appel Lipsius said. âYou walk off the street into one of our food forests and itâs 5 to 15 degrees cooler.â Globally, farmers are increasingly turning to agroforestry techniquesâwhich Indigenous peoples have employed for millenniaâto improve, stabilize, and diversify crop yields in the face of climate change. And across the U.S., cities are embracing agroforestry as well. While Denver has a network of smaller food forests, cities like Seattle and Atlanta have very large standalone sites. Appel Lipsius points out that some cities may have community orchardsâor simple plantings of fruit or nut treesârather than multi-layered food forests.
29 September 2025
















