2024 Employee of the Year: Meet Curt Talken
Published on September 11, 2025
Curt Talken has a hand in just about every tree you walk past in Lenexa. As the City’s parks landscape supervisor and certified arborist, Curt helps keep Lenexa’s parks, trails, medians and public spaces green, healthy and beautiful. After more than a decade of service, he’s been named the City’s 2024 Employee of the Year.
Curt joined Lenexa Parks & Recreation in 2013 and quickly became known as the go-to expert for all things trees and landscaping. Today, he leads a team that maintains 18 acres of landscaping and thousands of trees. They plant about 10,000 flowers each year and respond to hundreds of service requests — often after storms or when a tree in the public right of way needs attention. From blooming daffodils along Little Mill Creek Trail to the native landscaping at City buildings, Curt’s work touches nearly every corner of Lenexa.
He’s also the one residents call when they have questions about street trees or concerns about safety. Known for being calm, kind and incredibly knowledgeable, Curt takes pride in educating others and making decisions that will benefit the community for years to come. His coworkers say he’s like a “superhero of trees” — always showing up with answers and a great attitude.
Whether he’s planning a new landscape design, mentoring his team or improving a process to save time and resources, Curt is always looking for ways to make things better. His dedication, vision and love for the outdoors have helped make Lenexa’s green spaces the beloved places they are today.
We asked Curt to share more about his service with the City of Lenexa.
What is most rewarding about your job?
I really enjoy making improvements to better the community and our department, whether that involves redoing a tired landscape bed, planting trees in a park or finding a more efficient way to do our job. It’s also rewarding to see the public enjoy the parks and events we work so hard at every day.
How has your job changed since you started working for Lenexa in 2013?
When I first started, our work was focused mostly on maintenance — things like mulching, weed control and pruning trees. Over the years, we’ve taken on a lot of exciting projects. We helped build the championship-level disc golf course at Black Hoof Park, landscaped the Renner Boulevard roundabouts, and were part of the Lenexa City Center and Lenexa Justice Center developments. We’ve also worked on improvements at Sar-Ko-Par Trails Park, the Old Town Activity Center, Cedar Station Park and trail upgrades. It’s been incredible to see how much we’ve grown and how much we’ve been able to contribute.
What would surprise people about your work?
What our landscape team of eight full-time staff and two seasonal employees accomplish each year. Maintaining 18 acres of landscaping and thousands of trees is challenging, but we also assist with festival operations, snow removal, tree cleanup after storms, and plant about 10,000 flowers a year grown at our greenhouse. We prune about one-fifth of the city’s trees each winter and handle hundreds of service requests.
What energizes you at work?
Making improvements. I’m always wanting to make things better than they were before. I also love seeing the transformation of a site after trees and landscaping are installed, and seeing the public enjoy what we work so hard at.
Do you have a favorite park or trail you’ve worked on personally?
Over the past few years, we’ve planted more than 20,000 daffodils along Little Mill Creek Trail. It’s really cool to see them in bloom — they’re one of the first signs that spring is here. I also love Black Hoof Park. The trails, dam, disc golf course and natural setting make it a great place to visit.
If you could plant only one type of tree all over the city, what would it be and why?
Oak trees. Some people don’t like the acorns, but I love their longevity, hardiness and durability. I always admire the old neighborhoods in Kansas City lined with huge oaks that have stood the test of time. That’s what I hope for in Lenexa.
What advice do you have for others interested in this type of work?
Parks and recreation is a great profession. It’s rewarding to serve the public, it’s a fun atmosphere with a great work-life balance. There’s also a lot of opportunity for advancement if you’re willing to put in the effort. I started my career working in the field over 20 years ago and have since moved up to a supervisor role.