Over the last two winters, the western edge of Chatfield State Park has gone from a ghostly “snag forest” to long, open stretches of water. Crews have cut and hauled away roughly 6,000 dead cottonwoods and willows that were left standing in the newly flooded zone after Chatfield Reservoir rose to its higher operating level. Park leaders say the work is about keeping boaters safe and protecting dam operations now that formerly dry-rooted trees sit in water much of the time.
Removal totals and where the number comes from
The two-year total comes to about 6,000 trees. Roughly 2,700 trunks were removed during winter 2024–25, with an estimated 3,000 to 3,500 more taken out in winter 2025–26, according to The Denver Post. Chatfield Park Manager Kris Wahlers told The Denver Post that “everything that is going to be removed from that area has come out,” and said crews will spend the coming weeks chipping, hauling and checking what is left of the stumps.
Why crews pulled the flood zone cottonwoods
Colorado Parks and Wildlife says many of the cottonwoods and willows declined or died after prolonged inundation when the lake stayed at higher elevations. That left behind unstable trunks and broken limbs that officials say are safety hazards for people on the water. The state and its mitigation partners also point to the risk of those dead trees breaking loose, drifting toward the dam and clogging outlet works, according to Colorado Parks and Wildlife.
How the reallocation changed the shoreline
This is all tied directly to the Chatfield Reservoir Storage Reallocation Project, which reallocated about 20,600 acre feet of storage and raised the reservoir’s full pool by roughly 12 feet. The change was approved by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. After heavy spring runoff in 2023, the pool hit its new operating elevation, speeding up the decline of low-lying trees along the park’s western shoreline.
Helicopters, chips and replanting
In spots that ground crews could not safely reach, such as steep banks or flooded pockets, workers brought in a helicopter outfitted with a grappling saw to pluck whole trees out of the water. “It clamps the tree, saws it underneath,” Park Manager Kris Wahlers told CBS Colorado. Once the trees hit shore, machines pile and chip the wood, which is then sold to landscapers and nurseries. CBS Colorado also reported that the removal program cost roughly $1.5 million, with project partners in the reallocation consortium splitting the bill.
Parkgoers say it looks different now
The cleared out shoreline has landed with mixed reviews from people who know Chatfield best. Some visitors and birdwatchers now see broad, unobstructed water where dense stands of trees once stood up from the reservoir. Longtime parkgoer Gene Reetz told The Denver Post he was “shocked” by the scale of the cutting and said the Corps should have explored alternatives that might have reduced environmental harm.
What comes next for the shoreline
Mitigation work has been underway for years to offset the losses along the low banks. CRMC and state partners have planted more than 100,000 cottonwood and willow stakes and shrubs at higher elevations in an effort to rebuild riparian habitat and restore shady bands along the shore. Managers say they plan to monitor how those new plantings take hold over the next several seasons, finish site rehabilitation and avoid major new cutting during nesting periods as the landscape recovers, according to Colorado Parks and Wildlife…