To increase the defensibility of your home from wildfire, it is recommended that you eliminate small trees, cut weeds and remove litter in a 30 foot radius from your buildings.  Thinning trees and eliminating ladder fuels across your property will help prevent the loss of larger trees due to drought stress, insect infestation, and can lessen the damage from wild fire.  In order to help support firewise behavior of residents in the Jemez Corridor - The US Forest Service, Sandoval County, and the non-profit Greater Eastern Jemez Wildland/Uuban Interface Corporation (GEJWUIC) has arranged for the acceptance of forest waste (slash) from private property at the Sierra Los Pinos Area Fire Station on the following dates.

*Sierra Los Pinos Area Staging is located at the La Cueva Volunteer Fire Station #2, one mile off State Highway 4 on Forest Service Road 10.

PLEASE align your slash in rows with the large cut ends of your branches/small trees all pointing toward Fire Station building and at the edge of the parking area.  Aligning the slash allows for the efficient feeding of the chipper by the volunteers.  If you wish to help, contact Howard Fegan at 829-3031.

THANK YOU for only bringing green waste!  The chipper can handle only 5” diameter poles or smaller.  NO PINE NEEDLES, STUMPS, CONSTRUCTION WASTE, or MATERIAL with METAL in it.

Due to resource damage, the Sulphur Flats Area is Closed and will be fenced off for rehabilitation, and will not be opened again.  Do not bring any slash to this site; rehabilitation to this area has begun.

NO More Slash if the CLOSED sign is in effect, and No more slash after May 2^nd

The Forest Service plans to chip the accumulated Slash on these dates.  Please be aware that if all the accumulated slash is chipped early in the day, the F.S. and County Volunteers may leave early.  Plan to have all your slash delivered before these dates as the area will be closed, and no additional slash accepted.  If you are interested in the chips, they will be available directly from the chipper on these days, or any other times you wish get them yourself.

Chips are FREE for the taking and are useful in mud abatement and landscaping.

This service is a courtesy provided by the Sandavol County Volunteer Fire Department and the US Department of Agriculture, Forest Service and the Greater Eastern Jemez Wildland/Urban Interface Corp.  Abuses of this service will result in it being withdrawn.

Thompson Ridge Slash Pit Available to Area Residents:

The Thompson Ridge Slash Pit will be available to all area residents for the disposal of slash, pine needles, green Willows, and other bushes.  The pit is in good condition after a successful burn last year.  The road leading to the pit is in very bad condition, with no Forest Service money for maintenance.  Therefore, a 4 wheel drive vehicle with good clearance is required to navigate the non-maintained road.  Please, no stumps, no nails, no barbed wire, and no trash!

Note: To get to the Thompson Ridge Slash Pit, take FR 106 (at about mile 27 on NM 4, and across from the Sulphur Flats chipper site, and just South of the Ranchos de La Cueva mail boxes).  Take FR 106 about 8 miles toward Thompson Ridge (stay right).  At a fork just before the North entrance turn right, down a very rough dirt road.  The slash pit is straight ahead.  The turnoff to the pit is near the top of the map on the right side; however, it does not show on the map.  It is in the vicinity of the "Return to District Map" link.