BY ALAN PRENDERGAST
TUESDAY, DECEMBER 15, 2015 WESTWORD
The attack came without warning. It was carried out swiftly, with ruthless, mechanized efficiency. And when it was over, it was as if the trees had never been there in the first place.

Rich Grant had never seen anything like it. A forty-year resident of the Washington Park area and the retired director of communications for Visit Denver, Grant walks around the park every day. One exceptionally warm day in October, he headed out on his usual route, eager to take in the fall colors — and found Evergreen Hill closed off and under siege. The hill, a prized grove of conifers on the north side of the park, had been taken over by Denver Parks and Recreation crews equipped with cherry pickers and chainsaws.