Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Commissioners move ahead on Forestry Processing and Sort Yards
Contact: Abigail Janusz, Boulder County Land Use, 720-564-2623 or Barb Halpin, Public Information Officer, 303-441-1622
(Boulder County, Colo.) - The Board of County Commissioners today approved a new set of regulations to allow the establishment of Forestry Processing and Sort Yards, also referred to as community biomass sort yards (CBSYs), in unincorporated Boulder County.
The new regulations give both public and private entities an opportunity to apply for a special use permit through the County’s Limited Impact Special Review process to set up sort yards to accept wood (trees, logs and slash) collected from public and private lands in Boulder County. The sort yards provide sites for woody material to be dropped off and sorted into various types and sizes for either disposal or donation/sale for other uses.
Boulder County Forest Health:
Boulder County has a coordinated program to promote forest stewardship and sustainability through work on our own open space lands and though outreach and education with private landowners.
With the growing bark beetle epidemic in lodgepole and mixed conifer forests along the Front Range, trees throughout mountainous Boulder County are succumbing at high rates to beetle infestations. The resulting increase in tree mortality contributes to elevated threats to people and damage to personal property and public infrastructure (watersheds, public utilities and power lines) from events such as wildfires, individual falling trees, and high-wind multiple-tree blow downs.
In order to address the impacts of the bark beetle epidemic, the County has identified an immediate need to establish community facilities to help property owners maintain healthy forested lands by accepting and processing beetle-infested wood collected from their properties.
The sort yards generally accept material that either requires on-site treatment or disposal due to active infestations or, depending on the size and condition of the logs, material that has economic value and may be used for post and poles, dimensional lumber, wood chips or mulch, and animal bedding. Material that has no economic value can be disposed of appropriately.
In July, 2008, Boulder County, in partnership with Larimer County, opened its first community biomass sorting facility just north of Meeker Park to accept wood and slash at no charge from residents of both counties. The Meeker Park site will open again this spring for public use. The County is currently looking to establish an additional site along the Peak-to-Peak highway corridor, one located in the south end of Boulder County to give residents near Nederland, Ward and Eldora more convenient access to a CBSY. Each site would be open on a staggered, seasonal basis.
While no specific sort yard site locations were discussed at today’s public hearing, the Board of County Commissioners will be considering two locations in the Nederland area at a Public Hearing on March 2 at 5 p.m.. For more information regarding the site selection process, the March 2 meeting, and the Boulder County Forest Health Initiative, please visit: www.bouldercounty.org/foresthealth.
-END-
View the staff memo which describes the Land Use Code amendments that were adopted by the Board of County Commissioners on February 24.
Barbara HalpinBoulder County Public Information Officer
BHALPIN@bouldercounty.org
303-441-1622
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