Empowering Our Community
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How it Works
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Get Involved
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Wildfire mitigation happens at many scales, including around the home. ARWC is partnering with Lake County, Colorado State Forest Service, Leadville/Lake County Fire-Rescue, and Lake County Conservation District to help empower our community to protect their homes and properties from fires.
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ARWC provides the chipper, equipment, and time; you provide the slash. All you have to do is:
1) Sign up 2) Tidy up your property following the slash collection guidelines 3) Record the time you spent 4) ARWC will chip the slash piles and broadcast the wood chips for free! |
You can review the schedule and sign up for chipping days and Home Ignition Zone workshops at the link below. If you don't see any events in your neighborhood, sign up anyways, and we will try our best to get to you.
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Why?
According to Lake County's 2022 Community Wildfire Protection Plan (CWPP), poor forest health and lack of community wildfire preparedness are critical concerns for health and safety in the Upper Arkansas Valley. The vast majority of Lake County residents live in areas of significant wildfire risk. Limiting fuels and maintaining defensible space around homes and critical infrastructure drastically reduces the risk of destruction to property and human life. Slash removal (the clearing of dead or dangerous woody materials) on individual private property is one the quickest, easiest, and most cost effective ways that our community can build resilience; all it takes is a few hours of your time.
Sign Up Here:
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2024 Chipping Schedule
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Slash Pile Guidelines
- Pile slash alongside roads
- 12” maximum diameter, small trees may be left whole
- Pile slash with cut ends facing in one direction (see photo)
- Piles should be laid in low rows no higher than 4’ tall
- Keep track of how many hours you spend mitigating (cutting, hauling, stacking), and the approximate acres mitigated.
- Landowners do not need to be onsite on the Chipper Day to participate!
- No roots, root wads, dirt, rocks, weeds, trash, foreign material or lumber of any kind. Make sure your trees don’t have nails or metal in them!
- Piles or material not meeting specifications will not be chipped