Barbara Lawlor, Nederland.  When the gates opened, the trucks and trailers splashed through the dregs of the last snowstorm, backed up to an immense mountain of logs, branches, slash of all sizes and were greeted by a team of helpers.

The Boulder County Sort Yard on Ridge Road welcomed the industrious residents eager to rid their property of fire hazard fuels. It is mitigation time in the mountains. On Saturday, May 5, 2018, the Nederland Sort Yard held an open house hosted by the Boulder County Parks & Open Space. Sort Yard manager Wayne Harrington and staff from wildfire and forestry agencies aided the residents in offloading their trucks and trailers and even offered them hamburgers, hot dogs, cold drinks and cookies.

It was Wildfire Community Preparedness day and most of the people who hauled in their slash were grateful for a place to dump it.

The sort yard is now open from Wednesday - Saturday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. through October 13, 2018.

On Saturday, Nederland Fire Protection District volunteers helped with the heavy work, BCPOS employees greeted people and answered questions and Saws and Slaws representatives spoke to the residents about their mitigation work.

Harrington said that people were bringing in new cut slash, blown down trees and fire mitigation material. Zach Price, Boulder County Community Forestry Sort Yard Coordinator said this was the 11th year and the first time the county has had an open house.

BCPOS sawyer, Tom Sopko, demonstrated how logs could be used for more than firewood. He ran an Alaskan Mill that can be used to make dimensional lumber and cants. “We want people to know that we can do other things with wood besides firewood.”

Andy Nicodemus of Ward described the sort yard as a “building saver and life saver.” He said he had done a lot of mitigation this spring and was happy to have the sort yard open again.