Black Forest Trails Association

Chip In - Clean up slash in Section 16

Citizens "Chip In" to steward Partnership Trail

Black Forest Trails Association is taking the lead to help County Parks and the Colorado State Forest Service reduce the fuel load and beautify the Partnership Trail along Shoup Road on Black Forest School Section 16.

County Parks employees have already chipped the slash from small understory trees thinned by a recent Eagle Scout Project near the Herring Rd./Juniper Road Trail Access. The Eagle Scouts neatly piled the slash, butt end toward the trail for easy grabbing by the chipping crew. The chips were broadcast across the forest floor - returning nutrients to the ecosystem.

But Parks needs lots of willing hands to haul slash to the trail on the Shoup Road side.

Black Forest Trails Association is organizing Slash Hauling Events this Saturday morning, June 25 from 9 am to noon, and again on Tuesday and Thursday evenings from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. You can just come and lend a hand for awhile, or you can haul slash at some other time, on your own in the next few weeks.

There are just a few rules:

Fill out a County "Volunteer Work Agreement" form.
Accumulate the hours worked on an "El Paso County Parks Volunteer Project Leader" form.
The forms can be printed from the above links or picked up at the Slash/Mulch site, corner of Herring and Shoup Roads. They should be faxed or mailed to the County. Besides the legal indemnity function, these forms bolster the number of countable volunteers which helps County parks in applying for grant money.
Pile slash in openings between trees (stay at least five feet from tree bases), butt end towards the trail, and no more than 20 inches high. This is important because this makes it most efficient for the chipping crew to pull branches for loading into the chipper without having a tangle, and allows them to load quantities that do not clog the chipper.
Slash can be piled on both sides of the trail. All slash between the inner and outer fences is "fair game".
The only area to be done now is along Shoup from the top of the hill at the Shoup-Herring corner east to where slash-piles end just west of the east road into the section. The fuel mitigation area does not go all the way to Vollmer for this project.

If the weather is inclement, sessions will be rescheduled. Additional sessions may be needed, depending on how fast these first three events go.

Check the calendar on this website and the Black Forest News for continuing information.

"Chip in" - many hands make light work!