Morgan Valiant

It took more than two months for city workers to comb every street in Missoula inspecting trees for damage caused by the late July windstorm that pummeled western Montana. Now, Missoula officials say they’re about to embark on the city’s largest-ever urban forestry project.

Missoula’s Urban Forestry Division says it’s examined roughly a quarter of the city’s trees for damage following the storm. So far, it estimates a loss of 600 to 1,000 trees on city land alone. More than 450 have been marked for removal.

Edit 3/4/20: A previous version of this article stated that chokecherry is an invasive. It is, in fact, a native plant to Montana and the article has...