Denver gets urban “food forests” on disused park land

The hard-baked, treeless block at 48th and Julian may technically be Denver park land. But an urban oasis it decidedly is not. 

Yet. 

Shorn off decades ago by Interstate 70, whose noise and exhaust fumes press through gaping holes in the deteriorating wooden sound barrier, the “park” lot at West 48th Avenue and Julian Street bears no resemblance to the thriving Rocky Mountain Lake Park to the south across eight lanes of relentless traffic. 

A host of volunteers and full-time urban gardeners turn their backs to the Friday lunchtime road noise and dig in to start changing all that. Their goal: growing a “food forest,” with apple trees shading pear trees feeding hazelnuts sheltering plums, with neighbors wandering through to forage for their dinner as birds…