• Articles,  Mitigation

    February Saws & Slaws News

    Get Ready Now, So You Know What To Do Later With an unprecedented wildfire season behind us, many of us might be reflecting on how to better prepare ourselves for the next one. One simple thing we can do to eliminate stress and confusion is to compile an Evacuation Checklist before an emergency event. Mobilization is key when every minute counts. When you already have steps in place, you don’t have to think about what to do, you can just check your boxes. Prior to any threat of an evacuation, you’ll want to gather and assemble, an emergency essentials grab and go kit. This kit should contain essentials like first…

  • Articles,  Mitigation

    Saws & Slaws’ 10th Anniversary!!!

    We wish you a happy new year and gratefully welcome 2021! As the saying goes, time flies when you are having fun. If you need proof of that… Saws & Slaws is celebrating its 10th anniversary! Just like any child, we’ve grown a lot in our 10 years. We started with a group of community organizers coming together at first around wildfire and forest health education. The various stakeholder organizations (CCCIA, TEG, Fire Department, etc) found ourselves stumbling over each other planning education events without knowing the other organizations were planning some, too! Once that educational series was done, we wanted to put some of our learnings to work! I…

  • Articles,  Mitigation

    2020 Totals for Wildfire

    What a year for fire danger in the Urban Wildland Interface! In Colorado we had ten wildfire incidents of note. 2020 saw three record breaking fires in Colorado with over 620,000 acres (1000 square miles) burned overall. Starting on the last day of July, the dry, arid summer ushered in 2020’s wildfire season. In order of size, the incidents are as follows: 8/23 Thorpe Fire 159 acres 10/18 Lefthand Canyon Fire 460 acres 10/19 Ice Fire 596 acres 10/17 Calwood Fire 10106 acres 8/14 Williams Fork Fire 14833 acres 10/06 Middle Fork Fire 20517 acres 8/10 Grizzly Creek Fire 32631 acres 7/31 Pine Gulch Fire 139007 acres 10/14 East Troublesome…

  • Mitigation

    Socially Chipping

    Great Curbside Chipping event on Shimley Rd today!! Big thanks to Bob Brewster for getting his neighbors involved and working hard himself. Thanks to all who came to feed the beast: Bruce Tansy, Norval Olson, Jody Dickson, Dan Schulz, John Paul Thompson, Jean Tinder, Jane Marsolek, Drew Steffe, I feel like I am missing someone, and Yours Truly with the droopy mask. Thanks, Dawn for the homemade caramel corn and Thanks Suzie Tansy for the waters and the transport. Whoever is missing their fancy winter hat, let me know!

  • Articles,  Mitigation

    Saws and Slaws Welcomes Nathaniel Goeckner!

    Hello! My name is Nathaniel Goeckner. I will be working with Saws and Slaws and I am very excited to meet the community members of Coal Creek Canyon. Until I get to meet all of you, I wanted to give you some information about myself so you can get to know me! I will be finishing my master’s degree at the University of Colorado Boulder this December. I specialized in Sustainable Planning and Public Land Policy while at CU. I am originally from Wisconsin and grew up in a small town outside of Milwaukee. Growing up I loved hiking and playing in the hardwood forests that surrounded my home. This…

  • July Saws & Slaws Event – Spruce Canyon Drive

    Many of our neighborhoods in Coal Creek Canyon are “One way in/one way out”. In the event of a wildfire, it is imperative that we create safer passage for the residents of these areas. We will hold a “Legacy Event” on Saturday, July 13th: working together to cut trees down and process them for 4 hours and then we will join together for a Potluck Lunch. Bringing your own chair is always a good idea 🙂 We will be working on 2 properties in particular, creating a 40 foot wide egress in order to ensure better odds of escape through that roadway. We have a lot of trees to process so…

  • August Saws and Slaws Event – Divide View

    Saturday, August 24th, 8am to Noon, with a Potluck to follow. Please join us as we conquer some much needed fire mitigation and safe egress maintenance in the DVD neighborhood. We will be cutting trees and staging slash piles for hauling to Ned Sort Yard, as well as distributing logs. We will meet at 478 Divide View. Please bring water, gloves, eye and ear protection (we have extras), a camp chair, potluck dish and a helmet if you have one. We will have our Safety Meeting promptly at 8 am. We will work until Noon and then join together for a potluck and a warm, fuzzy feeling of much accomplishment! Join…

  • Spruce Canyon Saws and Slaws
    Articles,  Fire Mitigation Events

    August Saws and Slaws News

    Out In The YardSummer is in full swing. The noxious weed thistles are getting ready to put on their vibrant hot pink appeal and send their seed. Don’t buy it, try to eliminate these suckers before they bloom. Noxious Weeds take over ecosystems to their detriment. Curious what lurks around you? Boulder County has a guide here: https://www.bouldercounty.org/property-and-land/land-use/noxious-weeds/identification-of-noxious-weeds/Wear gloves! These plants are bad news to your epidermis. Leave it outside and wash right after handling. Safety Tip of the Month: Know and Respect Your Limits! If you don’t feel comfortable felling a particular tree for *any* reason, then simply don’t do it! There is no shame in keeping yourself and…

  • Fire Mitigation Events

    June Saws and Slaws News

    June Saws & Slaws News by Heather Hanson / Jody DicksonWildfire Preparedness Workshop UpdateOn April 27th several of our good citizens gathered at the CCCIA Hall for the Wildfire Preparedness Workshop to learn about best practices in preparing for a wildfire event. Since wildfire is not a if, but when prevision, attendance empowers us to prepare for, minimize negative impacts, and survive beyond the event. Several agencies presented strategies and information including Garret Ball, CCCFD, Aaron Betcher, Jeffco Sheriff, Nate Whittington, Gilpin Office of Emergency Management, Kyle McCatty, Wildfire Partners, Boulder County, Daniel Allen, Colorado State Forest Service, and Norma Jones and Larry Sterling, Gilpin County Animal Rescue Team. The…

  • Saws and Slaws Chainsaw Class 2019
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    May Saws And Slaws News

    by Heather Hanson / Jody Dickson Saws & Slaws Chainsaw Skills and Safety Class 2019There couldn’t have been better weather for the two day Chainsaw Skills and Safety Class for 2019. Everyone gathered at Fire Station #2 to learn how to safely use and maintain our chainsaws. In the class, we learn to break down our saws, clean and sharpen them, what protective gear to have, and the best part, how to make cuts and fell a tree! It is really empowering to have these skills in your mountain resident arsenal. If you didn’t attend our Spring session you definitely will want to make time for the next one! Thanks…