Chaffee Chips

Chaffee Chips empowers community members to create defensible space around their homes by coordinating neighborhood slash removal and chipping services.

The program is offered by Envision Forest Health Council partners to reduce the threat of wildfire in Chaffee County. Your participation is easy:

2024 Slash Haul Away Events in Chaffee County

This free service helps protect homes from a wildfire. See maps of the service areas by clicking the links.

Help us help you by following a few rules:

Slash is not trash!

✓ Trees, tree branches, small logs, brush cut away from root mass

X No logs/branches with a diameter greater than 6 inches 

X No logs/branches longer than 10 feet

X No construction, building or other manmade materials 

X No lumber, fence posts or signs 

X No roots, root wads, stumps or anything that grows below the soil 

X No materials that contain dirt, sand, gravel or rocks 

X No materials that contain metal (nails, screws, fencing), string or other man–made materials 

X No herbaceous material (leaves, weeds, bushes)

Making the PERFECT pile 

• No bigger than 5 feet high x 10 feet deep x 7 feet long
• No “rats” nests!
• Your slash will be scooped up with a small excavator. Build piles within 5 feet of public roadway but not in drainage ditches or under overhanging trees.
• Choose an area unobstructed by utility access, large rocks, retaining walls, address signs, etc.
• Do not impede traffic
• Piles must be accessible with adequate turnaround space for a truck/trailer
• Limit your piles to 7 per property

Your wood must be out by 8:00 on the first morning of the event and your piles must be registered by the prior Sunday. 

Fire mitigation matters! Defensible space is the natural and landscaped area around your home that has been modified to reduce wildfire hazard. By creating a defensible zone, your home and property are less vulnerable and the chance of spreading wildfire is greatly reduced.