Posted on: April 17th, 2012

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE  April 17, 2012  Contact: Barb Halpin, 303-441-1622

Community Forestry Sort Yards to open in May

County offering additional events and resources for landowners

Boulder County, Colo. – The Boulder County Forest Health Initiative is pleased to announce the Community Forestry Sort Yard operating schedule for 2012. 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 Allenspark/Meeker Park area sort yard, located on the Peak-to-Peak Highway just north of the Boulder-Larimer county line, will open at 9 a.m. on Tuesday, May 1 and remain open through Saturday, July 7.

The Nederland area sort yard, located at 286 Ridge Road just north of Nederland, will open on a limited basis on Friday, May 18 at 9 a.m. The site will be open four consecutive Fridays and Saturdays only (May 18-19, 25-26 and June 1-2 and 8-9). The site will reopen with a full schedule from Aug. 4-Oct. 20.

Wildfire mitigation trainings

The county has been working with communities throughout the foothills to set up a series of community trainings titled “The Keys to Creating and Maintaining Effective Defensible Space.”

The trainings present lessons learned from the Fourmile Canyon Fire Assessment and give participants concrete steps to take to prepare their homes and forests for future fires. Current research suggests that landowners who take precautionary action dramatically increase the likelihood of their homes surviving the next fire.

• Gold Hill

When: Wednesday, April 25, 6:30-8:30 p.m.

Where: Gold Hill Community Center, 1011 Main Street (above the Main Fire Barn)

Sponsor: Town of Gold Hill

• Nederland

When: Wednesday, May 2, 6:30-8:30 p.m.

Where: Nederland Community Center, 750 Highway 72 North

Sponsors: Nederland Fire Protection District, Town of Nederland, Nederland Parks Recreation and Open Space Advisory Board PROSAB

• Coal Creek Canyon

When: Wednesday, May 9, 6:30-8:30 p.m.

Where: Coal Creek Canyon Improvement Association, 31528 Highway 72, Golden

Sponsor: The Environmental Group

• Allenspark

When: Wednesday, May 23, 6-7:30 p.m.

Where: Outside at the Allenspark Community Forestry Sort Yard, 8170 Highway 7

Chipping reimbursement

The 2012 Community Chipping Reimbursement Program helps landowners clear one of the biggest obstacles to creating effective defensible space: disposing of slash.

Through the program, Boulder County is offering financial assistance to encourage mountain communities to conduct chipping projects. Community applications are due by Friday, April 20.

For more information, visit www.bouldercounty.org/ForestHealth or contact outreach forester Ryan Ludlow at 720-564-2641 or rludlow@nullbouldercounty.org.

-BoulderCounty.org-