Barbara Lawlor, Gilpin County.     After a successful Saws and Slaws summer mostly in the Big Springs area, the group has once again been asked to help out in a neighborhood: this time in Gilpin County. Every time Saws and Slaw brings their labor, energy and expertise to a neighborhood, everyone benefits from the event. They also have a good time and make new friends.

Four homes on South Beaver Creek will be the beneficiaries of the fuel mitigation project. The Coal Creek Canyon Saws and Slaws volunteer group will be helping out in Gilpin County for a one-time fire mitigation event in the hopes of encouraging Gilpin residents to start a group of their own.

Saws and Slaws will work on areas of Wheeler and Mountain Meadows subdivisions and Bowles Ranch Road, all off South Beaver Creek Road, where a defensible fire break is needed to protect the homes in the area.

Typically, the sawyers and haulers and chippers work from about 7:45 to noon when they break for a pot luck lunch that's worth the half day of work. The event will take place on Saturday, September 13. After lunch, the group will finish the chipping.

Organizer Carole Cardon says, "We hope to have some local musicians fill the beautiful mountain air with song.  Think old-fashioned barn raising/tree felling with a hootenanny and lots of good folks pitching in."

If you’re interested in attending or considering starting a Saws & Slaws group in Gilpin County, this is a great chance to see first-hand what these amazing men and women do to help their neighbors one Saturday morning a month.

Seeing the road widen because the lodgepole pines have been taken out so that a crown fire becomes a ground fire, to open up a defensible space and to make a healthier forest, is all the incentive most people need.

For details or more information, please call Carole Cardon at 303-642-7166.

For more about Saws and Slaws, please visit their website, sawsandslaws.com.