Posts tagged Community Forestry Sort Yards
Community Forestry Sort Yards to open in May
0March 20, 2013
“Spring is a great time of year to get out on your land and begin preparing your property for wildfires.”
Boulder County, Colo. – The Boulder County Forest Health Initiative is pleased to announce the Community Forestry Sort Yard operating schedule for 2013. Two sort yard locations are open each summer to provide residents a free of charge location to dispose of logs and slash cut from their land.
The sort yards do not accept yard clippings, raked up pine needles, root balls, construction materials, dirt, furniture, household trash or wood with metal in it. Sort yard staff will refuse loads that contain unacceptable items.
Allenspark/Meeker Park Sort Yard
- Spring hours: Fridays and Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. May 24th thru June 15th
- Summer/Fall hours: Tuesday thru Saturday 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. July 30th thru Oct. 19th
Nederland Area Sort Yard
- Spring hours: Tuesday thru Saturday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. May 1st thru July 6th (closed July 4th)
- Summer/Fall hours: Fridays and Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sept. 20th thru Oct. 12th (these dates are tentative)
The Community Forestry Sort Yards may have additional closures during the open season due to weather, staff training or other administrative requirements. To check the operational status of a sort yard please call 303-678-6368.
Boulder County encourages all of its residents to be good stewards of their backyard forest and to implement effective wildfire mitigation on their land.
“The spring is a great time of year to get out on your land and begin preparing your property for wildfires,” said Ryan Ludlow outreach forester with the county’s Land Use Department. “Simple actions like picking up downed branches, raking away all pine needles within 5 feet of your structures, cutting tall dead grass and moving leftover winter firewood piles off of porches and placing them at least 30 feet away from the home can really help improve the chances of your home surviving the next wildfire.”
If you want to learn more about how to implement effective wildfire mitigation on your land join us at the Nederland Community Center on May 11 for a half day workshop focused on “Firewise Landscaping.” Learn how to transform your home’s perimeter into an area that you can not only use, but also looks good and helps protect your home from wildfire.
For more information about the sort yard program or how to implement proactive wildfire mitigation on your land, contact Ryan Ludlow, Boulder County Forest Health Initiative’s outreach forester, at 720-564-2641 orrludlow@bouldercounty.org.
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Less trash in them there Boulder County hills
0February 9, 2012
Mountain ‘zero waste’ project exceeds goals
Compost projects, new services increase diversion rate
Boulder County, Colo. – Boulder County recently completed a “zero waste” project that more than doubled the composting and recycling rate in the communities of Allenspark, Eldora, Eldorado Springs, Gold Hill, Jamestown, Lyons, Nederland and Ward.
After providing grants and technical assistance, and improving waste diversion opportunities in the participating areas, nearly a third of materials discarded by community residents and businesses were sent to new uses, rather than to the landfill.
The efforts exceeded the county’s goal of doubling the diversion rate. “The previous estimate was that only one-eighth of mountain discards were collected for reuse, composting or recycling,” Sustainability Planner Lisa Friend said. “We doubled the rate and kept on going up to more than 30 percent. It’s a marked improvement over past diversion efforts.”
To improve zero waste practices, Boulder County staff provided mountain residents and businesses with information about existing composting and recycling programs. Diversion opportunities were enhanced at annual cleanup events in the mountains, and new programs for diverting wood waste, metal and textiles were established. The BuildSmart program that encourages diversion of construction materials was tracked through this project – especially for new construction in areas affected by the Fourmile Canyon Fire.
Boulder County staff helped the Town of Nederland begin a new compost program and provided a “Zero Waste Events” workshop to the Town of Lyons, with support from that town’s Sustainable Future Commission. The outreach was supported by a grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture rural development program.
Supplemental grants, awarded by the county’s Resource Conservation Division, helped the communities secure recycling and composting equipment, including downtown recycling bins in Lyons and a process that enabled Nederland to install two “Earth Tubs” to enhance its compost efforts. Additional grants recently awarded for 2012 include new bear-proof compost bins for Eldorado Springs and additional zero waste containers in Nederland.
In 2011, the county measured recycling, reuse and composting of more than 1,140 tons of recyclable and compostable materials – including electronics, scrap metal, building materials and more – of an estimated 3,600 tons of “waste” produced in the eight communities. An additional 1,325 tons of wood and slash were also managed at the county’s Community Forestry Sort Yards and through special grants for chipping.
Though USDA funding for mountain outreach has ended, county staff will continue to provide zero waste assistance to mountain communities as requested, including a Zero Waste Events Planning workshop in Nederland this spring and development of a handout that details opportunities for recycling electronic equipment by mail. Resource Conservation Division recycling programs at the Allenspark, Lyons and Nederland transfer stations will continue, as will the annual spring cleanup program and a variety of options offered to mountain residents by Boulder County-based recycling and compost collection services.
For more information about Boulder County’s zero waste technical assistance programs, contact the Commissioners’ Office sustainability staff at 303-441-3522 or visit www.BoulderCounty.org/zerowaste.
