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Evergreen resident urges county to restore fall pine‑needle drop‑off after change left homeowners with combustible debris
Summary
An Evergreen resident said Jefferson County stopped accepting pine needles in September, leaving homeowners with large collections of dry needles they consider fire fuel. He asked the board to revisit the county’s disposal schedule.
George Yantz, an Evergreen resident, told the Jefferson County Board of County Commissioners on Feb. 4 that county changes to autumn drop‑off schedules for pine needles left his household and neighbors with no local disposal option for combustive yard material.
Yantz said he and his wife have lived in Evergreen for 10 years and that they “pay just a shade under $12,000 in property taxes.” He described substantial home mitigation work: hand raking “40 to 50 large bags of pine needles each spring and again each fall,” moving “6 tons of rock” to create a ground barrier around his foundation after the Marshall Fire, and paying thousands to remove large pine trees. He said he and neighbors volunteered labor to remove brush along an egress road to aid mitigation.
“After the devastating Marshall Fire… one of the important lessons learned… was the importance of having a ground barrier established around building foundations,” Yantz said. He told the commissioners that, per fire officials, eliminating ground fuels is a key mitigation step. He said the county stopped accepting needles in September, before most needles fall in October and November, and that neighboring counties were allowing drop‑offs while Jefferson County was not.
Commissioner Leslie Dahlkemper thanked Yantz for the testimony and said staff — including Tom Hobie, who heads parks and conservation/open space programs — would look into the matter and that Yantz should share his written testimony and contact information with public affairs staff for follow up.
Ending: Commissioners asked county open‑space staff to review the drop‑off schedule and follow up with the resident; no policy change was announced at the meeting.
