Five years after a windstorm swept through SLC and knocked down 250 trees in the city cemetery, the restoration effort is officially complete.
Mayor Mendenhall joined the Friends of the Salt Lake City Cemetery, staff from the Salt Lake City Department of Public Lands, and community volunteers to plant the final trees, fully replacing what was lost during the storm.
Spanning 120 acres, the Salt Lake City Cemetery is the largest municipally owned cemetery in the country and is one of the city’s most sacred spaces, with a history dating back almost two centuries. As a place for peace and reflection, the cemetery hosts 130,000 burial sites that hold the stories of many Utah families.
The cemetery gained official accreditation as an Arboretum – a collection of a variety of woody plants, primarily trees, grown and maintained for education, scientific, and ornamental purposes – in November 2021. This classification demonstrates the City’s commitment to preserving and enhancing the site as both an active cemetery and a public open space.
Since the 2020 storm, Public Lands has been working to restore the cemetery’s urban forest, along with the 1,500 trees lost city-wide. The Urban Forestry team has not only replaced all the lost trees in the City, but they have added an additional 8,500 trees across Salt Lake City — in parks, along streets, in medians, and neighborhoods.
During her remarks, Mayor Mendenhall said, “Today’s tree planting represents more than restoration; it’s a promise that we will continue to care for this incredible space, to preserve its beauty and history for generations to come.”
This restoration has been made possible through the collective efforts of the Public Lands Urban Forestry Division, the Friends of the Salt Lake City Cemetery, and dedicated volunteers who contributed their time and energy to the project to help revive this special place.