Chipper Days

*Sulphur Flats Staging Area is located on forest service property just off State Highway 4 across from the mail boxes for Rancho de La Cueva on the interior of the State Highway 4’s curve at about mile marker 27.

** Sierra Los Pinos Staging Area is locate about 1 mile off Highway 4, on Forest Service Road 10, at the La Cueva Volunteer Fire Station #2

†Once all the accumulated slash is chipped, the Forest Service and County Volunteers will pack up and leave.

Pine Needles normally have rock mixed in with it (and will destroy a chipper quickly, even if attempting to chip it) so can not be chipped. These areas are not dump sites, and construction trash also can not be chipped as it has potentially hazardous metal pieces mixed in it and/or the material itself can not be safely composed (would you want this stuff in your garden?). And green willow branches have been known to wrap themselves around the machinery causing the operators to shut down the chipper to unwrap the tangled willows from the blades. These types of materials cause problems, and can cause this volunteer effort to be shut down; please help by not bringing us these problems.

Most Important Rules:

Slash and other Materials are Not being accepted at the Fire Stations!
Please bring only green waste! The chipper can handle only 5” diameter poles or smaller.
NO PINE NEEDLES, STUMPS, CONSTRUCTION WASTE, or MATERIAL with METAL in it.

At each site, PLEASE align your slash in rows with the large cut ends of your branches/small trees all pointing toward the East at Sulphur Flats, and towards the Fire Station at Sierra Los Pinos. At Sierra Los Pinos, pile the slash across the parking lot away from the buildings. Aligning the slash allows for the efficient feeding of the chipper by the volunteers. If you wish to help, contact Howard Fegan at 575-829-3031.

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 Abuses of this service will result in it being withdrawn.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.