Littleton tree to lose its top
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Littleton's famed spruce will soon change dramatically. Photo: Robert Sanchez/Axios
Littleton's most sentimental spruce is likely to look a lot different this time next month.
The big picture: Ips beetles — aka engraver beetles — infested the roughly 50-year-old tree near Main Street's west end, leaving one of Littleton's most beloved landmarks fighting to survive.
Driving the news: The tree has deteriorated so badly that Littleton plans to lop off its dead top in late August.
Reality check: Former city firefighter Lou Fohn, who planted the tree in 1986, isn't expecting a comeback.
- "It's never getting better."
Why it matters: The spruce shows off its main character energy each November at Bowles Plaza, when it's lit at the end of the city's Candlelight Walk.
Catch up quick: Forestry staff spotted trouble late last year.
- The city treated the tree with a pesticide injection, but it was already seriously damaged.
What they're saying: "It makes me so sad," Mary Brand Danser, Littleton's forester, tells Axios.
Zoom in: She says drought, age, heat and the brick planter encasing the roots probably weakened the spruce.
- Ips beetles are Colorado natives, and they prey on stressed conifers.
- Officials still don't know how much of the tree is compromised because the beetles tunnel beneath the bark.
Flashback: Rather than see another spruce cut down for holiday lights, Fohn got approval and planted a roughly 15-year-old tree that could be lit in place instead of being cabled to the Masonic Lodge across the street.
- Fohn spent about $600 for the spruce, $200 of which the fire department covered.
- "It was nice and bushy and had a blue color," says Fohn, an 81-year-old Littleton native who co-owns the city's Columbine Tree with his son.
- "It was a beautiful, beautiful spruce."
What we're watching: Brand Danser says the tree will look "a little silly" after its trim.
- "But it holds a lot of significance," she says, "and we want to honor it."
Meanwhile, Fohn says he's happy to plant a new one.
What's next: Littleton will preserve the spruce's healthy lower section as long as possible while figuring out this year's holiday plans.
- One half-baked idea? Top the spruce with a large red Santa hat.