The City of Longmont Parks and Natural Resources Department has generated eight to ten-foot logs of wood through forest stewardship operations and is giving the surplus logs to residents of greater Longmont for free through Longmont’s Surplus Wood Program. The stewardship operations at Button Rock Preserve that produced the logs include habitat restoration “intended to protect Longmont’s drinking water supply and improve forest health,” as well as to mitigate wildfire risk.
A majority of the logs available are Ponderosa pine and Douglas-fir, and they are available for use on a first-come, first-served basis. The logs are intended for personal use (for firewood, building materials, mulch, etc.) and should not be resold.
The logs are available to any resident of greater Longmont at the Button Rock Preserve Woodlot, which is located on the south side of North 53rd Street, about eight-tenths of a mile north of Highway 66. The woodlot is open from sunrise until sunset every day until March 1.
Before picking up the logs, residents must fill out an online waiver and wait for pick-up instructions to be sent to their email. If an application is approved, department staff will be in touch with the applicant within 48 hours.
According to the City of Longmont, the goal of the Surplus Wood Program is to provide wood resources back to local community members. “Utilizing forest wood products helps reduce costs to the city for processing and hauling of wood waste, and provides added public benefit in the form of firewood or millable logs.”
The Button Rock Preserve Woodlot is different from Longmont’s Forestry Sort Yard, where wood is available only to Longmont city residents and is available in the form of firewood, chunk wood, and millable logs. The wood in the Forestry Sort Yard is acquired from the City of Longmont Parks and Natural Resources Department’s management of trees in urban forest areas.
