Littleton Tree Removal & Trimming · Arapahoe County
Trunk injections, removal, pruning and stump grinding across Littleton. The city’s own management plan puts its canopy at 20 percent, five points below where it stood in 2013, with roughly 45,000 ash trees still to lose.
Littleton will pay up to $500 toward your tree work, and only a company licensed by the city qualifies. Check the city’s list before you hire anyone, us included.
Free on-site assessment · Written quote · No obligation
Emerald ash borer was confirmed in Littleton in June 2023 — a small area of Arapahoe County near where Littleton meets Englewood, Greenwood Village and Centennial. It was the first confirmation in the county, and it means Littleton has been living with this longer than Denver, Aurora or anywhere in Douglas County.
Three years is long enough for the pattern to be visible rather than theoretical. The ash that went onto a treatment schedule early are still standing. The ones that waited for symptoms are mostly gone, because by the time a homeowner notices thinning at the top of the canopy the tree has usually been infested for two or three seasons already.
None of that is a reason to panic and it is certainly not a reason to remove a healthy ash. It is a reason to find out, this season, which category each of your trees is in — because in Littleton the window that other cities still have has already closed.
45,000
Ash trees in Littleton, roughly
~15%
Of the city’s canopy
4,400
Trees the city actually maintains
20%
Canopy cover, down 5 points since 2013
Littleton had the first confirmed emerald ash borer detection in Arapahoe County, in June 2023, in a small area of northeast Littleton. The city estimates roughly 45,000 ash trees within its limits, about 15% of its canopy, and the overwhelming majority are on private property — the city maintains only about 4,400 trees in total. Littleton offers residents a forestry subsidy of up to $500 per household per calendar year toward ash treatment, planting or hazard-tree removal.
Put the two figures side by side. Littleton has roughly 45,000 ash trees. The city maintains about 4,400 trees in total, of every species, across roughly 80 acres of city land.
So when Littleton budgets for EAB — and it has, with a plan covering 720 city ash trees, 470 of them targeted, treatment of about 150 at $9,000 a year and removal of 420 over the next several years — that money touches something like one and a half per cent of the ash in the city.
The other ninety-eight per cent is in yards. Which means Littleton’s canopy decline is not something the city can fix on its own, and the five points it has already lost since 2013 were mostly lost on private land. City Forester Mary Danser is clear-eyed about the rest of it too: “We are still in a drought, so watering wisely would be my push.”
Nearly every complaint people have about tree companies comes down to the same thing: something happened that the homeowner never agreed to. These five exist so that cannot happen here.
The money is real, the cap is per household per calendar year, and the eligibility rule is the part that decides who actually gets it.
Up to $500 per household per calendar year, and up to 100% of the eligible cost. It covers trunk injection of ash ten inches in diameter or larger, planting in sparse-canopy neighbourhoods, and hazard-tree removal. Residential only, one application per address per year. The city is explicit that it “cannot retroactively reimburse for treatments completed in previous years” — so this is a this-season decision, not a next-spring one.
“All work must be performed by a City of Littleton licensed company.” Separately, City Code 8-4-3 requires an arborist licence to conduct tree trimming and removal work inside city limits at all. Littleton publishes its licensed-arborist list publicly, so you can check any company in about a minute — and you should check ours the same way you check everyone else’s. Confirm licensing with the city before you book, because the subsidy depends on it.
Littleton’s own management plan contains a detail most residents have never heard. Along the city’s stretch of the High Line Canal, 82% of the trees are cottonwood — and the plan states that the only supplemental water those trees may receive is runoff from adjacent landscape irrigation.
That is a whole ribbon of large, mature, thirsty trees quietly depending on what leaks off the yards beside them, in a year when Denver Water is in a Stage 1 drought and Southwest Metropolitan is asking for a 20% reduction with surcharges of $1.10 and $2.20 per thousand gallons.
The practical version for a homeowner: hand-watering and drip for trees is allowed any day under those rules, outside 10 AM to 6 PM.
That matters most on Littleton’s older lots. Arapaho Hills homes date from 1955 to 1964, and the 2009 survey notes that pines photographed as saplings in 1955 are now fully grown. For a tree that size, a slow soak at the drip line is the cheapest thing you can do this autumn.
★★★★★
“He could definitely have sold me on unnecessary work… My invoice was for the quoted amount and no more. UPDATE almost a year later and my silver maple is thriving. Those iron injections really worked!”
— Wendy B. · Verified Google Review
★★★★★
“The entire crew did a great job removing an enormous elm tree that was encroaching our house. Special shout out to Ben who spent his 65th birthday in the lofty branches of the beast!”
— Cynthia O. · Verified Google Review
★★★★★
“I generally do not leave reviews but the service I received from Ironwood in trimming my 4 trees was exceptional. Robert, Jesse, Chewy, and Jack were wonderful to work with and made sure I was completely satisfied with the results.”
— Terry S. · Verified Google Review
June 2023, in a small area of northeast Littleton — the first confirmed detection in Arapahoe County. No source we could find names the agency that made the confirmation, so we are not going to attribute it to one. What is documented is the date, the rough location, and that Littleton has now been living with the pest longer than any other city in this part of the metro.
Yes. The city’s forestry subsidy covers up to $500 per household per calendar year, up to 100% of the eligible cost. It covers trunk injection of ash ten inches in diameter or larger, planting in sparse-canopy neighbourhoods, and hazard-tree removal. Residential only, one application per address per year, and the city cannot reimburse retroactively for work done in previous years.
Yes. City Code 8-4-3 requires an arborist licence to conduct tree trimming and removal work within Littleton city limits. The subsidy adds a second layer: “All work must be performed by a City of Littleton licensed company.” Littleton publishes its licensed-arborist list publicly. Check it for any company you are considering, ours included, and confirm with the city before you book subsidised work.
It depends on the canopy, not on the calendar. A tree that still has most of its canopy responds well to trunk injection. Our treatment page puts the threshold at under 40% decline; CSU guidance is more conservative at about 30%. The tell is that EAB kills from the top down, so the upper third of the canopy is what an arborist looks at first.
The city reports canopy at 20% of its land, down five points from its 2013 assessment. Its own management plan links the decline to irrigation cost and water availability as much as to pests. With about 45,000 ash trees in the city and only about 4,400 trees maintained by the city itself, most of the canopy — and most of the loss — is on private property.
Yes. Hand-watering and drip irrigation for trees and shrubs are allowed any day outside 10 AM to 6 PM. Denver Water is in a Stage 1 drought with drought pricing through 30 April 2027, and Southwest Metropolitan Water and Sanitation asks for a 20% total reduction with surcharges above baseline. Sprinkler days are restricted; tree watering by hand or drip is the exemption.
One ISA Certified Arborist behind all six, and one written quote if you need more than one of them.
Tree Removal · Tree Trimming & Pruning · Stump Grinding · Pest & Disease Control · Tree Injections · Lawn Fertilization & Weed Control
Aurora · Denver · Centennial · Parker · Castle Rock · Highlands Ranch · Englewood · Greenwood Village
An ISA Certified Arborist will tell you which of your ash are worth protecting, which are not, and whether the city’s $500 applies. Free assessment, written quote, no obligation.
312 Norfolk St, Unit A, Aurora, CO 80011 · Monday to Friday, 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM · Serving Littleton and the Denver metro since 2003