Summit County Chipping Program

You can protect your home from wildfire with help from the Summit County Chipping Program. Summit County government helps residents and property owners create defensible space by providing free chipping and disposal for branches, logs and small trees. If you clear woody vegetation from around your home and stack it in a slash pile, we’ll chip it and haul it away at no cost.

When it comes to wildfire, it takes everyone to protect everyone.    

2020 Neighborhood Schedule

The chipping program is back for 2020! Review the Chipping Fact Sheet/Schedule, to view this year’s service areas and neighborhood schedule, which has changes relative to last year.

Example of a good slash pile for chipping program

Pile Guidelines


Piles must be stacked by 8 a.m. on the Monday of your neighborhood's designated chipping week (view the Chipping Fact Sheet/Schedule) so that our chipping crews can record all pile locations and plan their routes for that week. Chipping and collection will take place throughout your designated week. Improperly stacked piles, and any piles stacked after 8 a.m. on Monday, may not be identified or collected.
  • Stack piles neatly (no bags); place trunks and branches perpendicular to the road, large ends facing the road, small ends facing your property.
  • Place piles within 5 feet of the roadway, but not touching the road or in drainage ditches.
  • Viewed from the road, maximum pile size is 5 feet high, 5 feet wide; maximum length of individual trunks and branches is 10 feet.
  • Maximum number of piles for each property is 10 piles.*
  • Do not combine piles with neighbors' piles or place piles in other neighborhoods.
  • After crews have removed your pile, clear away any remaining branches, needles and debris.
* For larger-scale defensible space projects, call us at 970-668-4140 to inquire  about a Hazardous Fuels Reduction Grant, or visit www.SummitCountyCO.gov/wildfiregrants.

Materials Guidelines


Accepted materials include trees, logs and branches up to 12 inches in diameter, free of nails and wire. The following restrictions apply: 
  • No willow or cottonwood: Willow and cottonwood have high moisture content, so they help to slow the spread of fire. They also clog our chipping equipment because they are very fibrous.
  • No construction or building materials, treated lumber, fence posts or signs. 
  • No rotten wood, root wads, stumps, dirt, rocks, or shrubs: These items clog and damage our chipping equipment.
  • No grass clippings, trash, weeds or bags of leaves.

2020 Chipping Schedule

Each neighborhood in Summit County has one designated week, during which households may set out piles of trees and branches for chipping and removal. View the Chipping Fact Sheet/Schedule (pdf), or view an interactive map of the 2020 chipping schedule, where you can enter your address to find your neighborhood’s chipping week.

Please note that the schedule is subject to slight modifications in order to redirect crews to other locations based on volumes of materials set out in each neighborhood.

Example of a "Good Pile"

Example of a good slash pile for chipping program

Example of a "Bad Pile"

Example of a bad slash pile for chipping program
Chipping crew loading slash into a chipper

2019 Chipping Program Results


A total of 1,931 local households participated in the 2019 Chipping Program, and chipping crews removed 3,738 slash piles, making significant progress toward our community’s wildfire protection goals. Approximately 5,400 cubic yards of chips were hauled to Climax Molybdenum Mine for reclamation efforts.

Contact

 
For more information on the Summit County Chipping Program, call or email Dan Schroder, (970) 668-4140.

Colorado State University, U.S. Department of Agriculture and Summit County cooperating. Extension programs available to all without discrimination.