PINE NEEDLE DISPOSAL SITE Reducing Fire Danger Through Lot Cleanup

Pine Needle Disposal

to be available May 13

(Update as of 5/12/06)

Pine needles may be taken to the county transfer station, on Dinkey Creek Road one mile east of Highway 168, beginning May 13, 2006.  The material to be disposed of must be clean, with no rocks, trash, stumps or tree trunks, and no limbs over six inches in diameter. 

The cost for disposal is $12.00 /cubic yard and the transfer station will accept the material Tuesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays between 10:00 am and 2:00 pm. 

The purpose of this operation is to aid property owners in removing fuel for wildfires while avoiding the air pollution caused by burning. 

Rancheria Solid Waste has purchased a chipper to process the needles, then transport them to the old pine needle site.  The Highway 168 Fire Safe Council has made arrangements with Mike Smith to bale the needles and sell them as mulch, if possible, or the material will be delivered to Sierra Summit to be used for erosion control on the ski slopes. 

These alternative methods for pine needle disposal are required due to the closing of the traditional drop off site on SCE land on Chawanakee Road.  The Air Pollution Control District no longer allows burning there.   The $12.00 rate has been established to offset the increased cost of recycling the material as opposed to burning. 

This procedure is still in the experimental stage and, if successful, may lead to less expensive methods of fuel reduction without burning.