Populus, the country’s first carbon-positive hotel, is introducing its One Night, One Tree program. Coinciding with the opening of the hotel in Denver on September 18 and in partnership with the National Forest Foundation (NFF), Populus will plant one tree for every night’s stay, representing up to 20,000 newly planted trees in 2024. One Night, One Tree is a part of the hotel’s overarching approach to sustainability; other efforts to offset its operational carbon footprint include collaborations with local farms to promote regenerative practices, committing to 100 percent renewable electricity, and turning all food waste into compost to be returned to local farmers.
Managed by Aparium Hotel Group, a pioneer in the lifestyle hotel industry, and developed by Urban Villages, a leading real estate developer and environmental steward, Populus will feature 265 guest rooms; iconic aspen tree-inspired architecture by AD100 Studio Gang; a lounge and coffee bar; flexible event spaces; Pasque, an all-day restaurant serving nature-based cuisine; and Stellar Jay, a lively rooftop restaurant, bar, and outdoor terrace that serves bold, live-fire cuisine with unobstructed views of the mountains and city skyline.
Upon opening, Populus will begin to offset its ongoing operations with One Night, One Tree, inviting guests to experience and support environmentally forward hospitality with each stay. The program is in partnership with the National Forest Foundation (NFF), the leading organization bringing people together to restore National Forests and Grasslands. As the country’s first carbon positive hotel, Populus’ carbon footprint will be mitigated through forest management (or silviculture) and regenerative agricultural partnerships, whose actions will sequester more carbon than is emitted by the building’s construction and operation throughout its lifecycle. These programs will demonstrably remove carbon from the atmosphere and have a net positive effect on climate change. Populus’ embodied carbon – the carbon emitted during thecreation, transportation, installation, maintenance, and disposal of the materials used to build the hotel – has already been reduced through a combination of sustainable design and construction techniques and offset by planting and fostering the growth of over 70,000 trees (172+ acres) in Gunnison County, Colo. in summer 2022.
“We’re excited to invite guests to join us in our commitment to plant one tree for every night of their stay, right here in Colorado, taking the guesswork out of sustainable travel and helping to reshape our environment one tree at a time,” says General Manager George Prine. “Populus will show that conscious traveling doesn’t need to be a sacrifice. In fact, it can significantly enhance the guest experience through thoughtful design, engaging programming, delicious food and drink, superior service, and the knowledge of making a positive impact.”
“When we broke ground on Populus in 2022 with a commitment to be carbon positive, we wanted to remain transparent about our continuously evolving strategy with the hopes of making an impact on our environment and inspiring others – developers, hoteliers, and consumers – to take a greener approach,” says Jon Buerge, president of Urban Villages. “Populus is about so much more than carbon offsets; it is tangibly supporting our local farmers, bringing trees and biodiversity to our forests, infusing nature into our city, and connecting guests to our natural world.”
One Night, One Tree: Supporting Reforestation with Each Stay
All aspects of Populus are authentically rooted in nature, from the biophilic architecture informed by the growth process of Colorado’s native aspen tree – Populus Tremuloides, to the seasonally and consciously sourced restaurant menus, to the interior design and art program that celebrates the beauty of the natural world. Upon opening, guests will immerse themselves in nature and actively play a role in reforestation through Populus’ partnership with the NFF, which will plant one tree per night on guests’ behalf. Through the One Night, One Tree program, the more nights a guest stays, the more trees Populus will plant. For example, a four-night stay will equate to four trees planted. Guests will also have the option to purchase additional trees to support Populus’ efforts to grow and foster forests for future generations.
Working on behalf of the American public, the NFF leads forest conservation efforts and promotes responsible recreation. Populus selected NFF as a partner due to their ability to meet the hotel’s silvicultural – or forest management – objectives within Colorado. NFF demonstrates a clear and measurable commitment to mitigating climate change by facilitating regionally specific tree planting, ecosystem regeneration, and biodiversity support of projects at a scale that meets Populus’ carbon sequestration objectives. The organization also maintains a close relationship with the U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service and technical service providers who, together, ensure long-term tree monitoring and protection through regular seedling monitoring, random sampling, and browse protectors.
Populus’ trees will be planted in two Colorado regions: the Grand Mesa, Uncompahgre, and Gunnison National Forests, which focus on forest health improvement in response to a spruce beetle epidemic and aspen decline; and the White River National Forest, which focuses on disturbance recovery from the 2018 Lake Christine Fire and is positioned at the top of Basalt Mountain. The trees planted will be a mix of Engelmann spruce, Lodgepole pine, and Douglas fir — native and ecologically appropriate species picked by Forest Service professionals to improve the conditions for each specific forest.
Bringing Nature to the Urban Environment
Not only will Populus support offsite forests, but it will bring a diverse variety of trees and local vegetation to the heart of downtown Denver through its onsite roof garden and streetscape – both of which are designed by Denver-based landscape architecture firm Superbloom. The green roof is a four-season garden filled with lush, perennial trees, shrubs, and plant species that support habitat and pollination, provide a cooling effect in the harsh sun through shading and evapotranspiration, and enhance biodiversity in the dense urban environment.
Surrounding the hotel’s streetscape, Populus is planting a canopy of trees with an innovative infrastructure that provides more adequately aerated soil volume to the trees, mimicking the conditions and benefits of a forest, despite its location in the heart of the city. Made possible by grants from The Nature Conservancy’s Healthy Cities Program, which utilizes nature-based solutions like planting trees to benefit biodiversity and climate change resilience in cities, and the Downtown Denver Partnership’s Urban Forest Initiative, whose goal is to reimagine how trees are planted and cared for in downtown Denver, Populus’ onsite trees are planted in Silva Cells, an innovative technology of underground structural supports that provide the trees access to uncompacted soil similar to a natural forest environment where tree roots intermingle, while also supporting the weight of the concrete sidewalk. This proven technology allows for mature tree growth, which is particularly challenging in the urban environment, and brings significant benefits to the local atmosphere, including reducing ambient temperatures by 10 degrees, a 60 percent reduction in particulates from car exhaust*, and more benefits that add to the enjoyment of walking down the street in front of Populus.
Along Populus’ tree lined sidewalks, there will also be custom-designed benches by Superbloom for passersby to relax or enjoy a coffee from the ground floor coffee bar. The bench material is salvaged honey locust wood from trees that were felled during the renovation of the 16th Street Mall – the primary public thoroughfare in downtown Denver – giving the trees a second life.
