ROADSIDE CHIPPING ASSISTANCE- INDIVIDUAL & NEIGHBORHOOD PROGRAMS

The ARCD offers the Roadside Chipping program to help encourage continued vegetation maintenance in the county. The ARCD will administer the Chipping Services Program through a grant awarded by the California Fire Safe Council. The Roadside Chipping program is designated in one of two ways: Individual Roadside Chipping and Neighborhood Roadside Chipping. The Individual program allows residents to submit a request for chipping solely for their property. The Neighborhood program allows members of a neighborhood who live in the general vicinity of each other or on the same road to coordinate multiple addresses to be chipped on a set day, usually with the assistance of a designated neighborhood lead. The chipping programs are available to all Amador County residents who first pile vegetative slash along roadsides or driveways, then submit a request for chipping service (see below, but please review all requirements first). Residents along key evacuation routes are especially encouraged to utilize this program. The ARCD will send an industrial chipper and crew to the site to process the roadside slash.  The program will provide the community the ability to process vegetative debris, at no cost to the landowner.
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All Chipping Requests will be served on a first-come, first-serve basis, with common areas of requests batched together.  Priority for service is given to areas where multiple landowners submit requests in the same general area, a set date is given for residents requesting a Neighborhood Chipping Day. This free, residential fuels roadside chipping program will be administered until the grant funds are exhausted. With enough Amador County interest, the ARCD has made considerations for extending the program timeframe if grant funds are available. If you have questions or need assistance coordinating a Neighborhood Chipping event, please contact Megan Watts: megan@amadorrcd.org / (209) 214-9727

READ ALL OF THE FOLLOWING
​BEFORE SUBMITTING A CHIPPING REQUEST

The ARCD has received grant funds to provide chipping services for neighborhoods and individual homeowners in Amador County who are willing to put the work in to make their property fire safe. Please read the instructions below before submitting your request for chipping:

1. Program is only available to residents of Amador County. 
2. Program is limited to one visit, per calendar year, per address.
3. Program is limited to four hours of chipping per address, on one visit.
4. This program is intended to help create defensible space (minimum 100 feet or to property line) around your primary residence.  The intention of the funding is not for clearing acreage or vacant parcels.

Please complete all of your work before submitting a request and confirm all materials have been compiled for your one-time-per-year free service. Valuable chipping time and grant money is wasted responding to requests when the material is not ready. 

SCHEDULING

Our Roadside Chipping service is known as a 'roadside' service, which means no specific time or date is given and the piles must be placed along the roadside or driveway, with adequate space for the chipping machinery to access and turn around. For Individual program requests, piles should be complete and ready to chip prior to submitting this request. As long as program guidelines are met, there is no need for a resident to be home when piles are chipped. For Neighborhood program requests, a designated neighborhood lead resident coordinates with the ARCD to assign a specific date for chipping in the area. Residents will still need to submit requests per address, however, they have the option to distinguish themselves as part of a planned Neighborhood project. Please contact Megan Watts if you have any questions or are interested in setting up a Neighborhood Chipping Project: megan@amadorrcd.org / (209) 214-9727

REQUIREMENTS

The following requirements must be met in order for us to chip at your location. We reserve the right to refuse chipping services if these requirements are not met:

• Piles need to be stacked along a road or driveway frontages, which will allow the crew to work from the road or driveway. 
• Piles must be placed within 5 feet of chipper access.
• Piles must be placed on level ground or on the uphill side of the road or driveway. 
• Piles must be free of roots, stumps, rocks, mud, poison oak, scotch broom, blackberries and other vines.
• Piles must be stacked with the cut ends facing the same direction, pointing towards access route to piles. Heaviest materials should be on the bottom, lightest materials on the top.
• Piles must not be higher than 5 feet and no wider than 10 feet long. Multiple piles are allowed.
• Material can be up to 7 inches in diameter, and needs to be at least 3 feet in length (no longer than 10 feet). The longer the better for the crew, as it is easier to feed through the chipper.
• All chipped materials will be blown back onto the property or put in a pile where the brush was stacked.
• The ARCD will provide service on a first-come, first–served basis.  We limit service for individual customers to no more than 4 hours per visit.
• The ARCD cannot clean up commercial properties, timber harvest projects, commercial projects, vacant lots, or marijuana grows. 
• Click on the 'Request Chipping' button at the bottom of the page to submit your online chipping request. 

PROHIBITED ITEMS

The ARCD is not able to chip foreign materials, non-vegetative items, or lumber of any kind:

• Piles of Leaves, Pine Needles, or Yard Clippings
• Poison Oak
• Decaying Wood
• All Varieties of Broom
• Commercial Properties, Timber Harvest Projects, Commercial Projects or Vacant Lots
• Blackberries/Vines/Anything with Thorns
• Root Balls, Stumps, Dirt, or Twigs

Your piles should look like the one above. Improperly stacked or located piles may not be chipped.

​Once you have completed the requirements listed above, click the “Request Chipping”  link below

REQUEST CHIPPING HERE