Hundreds Haul Ice Storm Debris Disposal At Transfer Station Free And Encouraged By Street Official

The recent thaw prompted hundreds of homeowners to break out the rakes over the weekend and dispose of unsightly piles of leaves and debris.

Industrious residents trucked their muck and junk to the Kootenai County landfill transfer station in record numbers, said Steve Wulf, the county’s solid waste director.

The station had more than 1,100 visitors on Saturday and more than 1,200 on Sunday, he said Monday morning.

“The lines haven’t got to normal yet,” he said.

At one point, the line into the transfer station stretched almost a mile down Ramsey Road to Appleway.

Wulf said the bulk of the garbage is from tree limbs and debris left over from November’s ice storm, and from leaves that were buried by early snows last fall.

Now that the snow has melted, Coeur d’Alene street crews are getting ready to cart away the leaves.

Residents have been asked to rake their leaves into the street beginning on Saturday, and on Monday, March 31, street crews will begin collecting them.

The crews also will haul off tree branches that fell in the city’s right of way, said street supervisor Tim Klein.

“We’d really like to see people not drag everything from all over the country into the street,” Klein said, adding that for now, disposal of ice storm debris is free - even for commercial operators.

“The more we have to haul to the landfill, the more it increases our pickup time,” he said.

Normally, leaf pickup takes about two weeks, Klein said.

This time he anticipates it will take four weeks or more.

A team of sawyers will canvass the streets ahead of the pickup crew to saw up tree limbs into smaller chunks.

The crews will start south of Sherman Avenue and make their way north.

Meanwhile, mopping up is taking place on Tubbs Hill.

The helicopter logging crew finished its work Monday morning, but logs still are being removed from the landing site at the Third Street dock.

Although the park is now safe from falling trees, some debris still is on the trails and the bridges still need repair, said Karen Hinson, the city’s urban forester.

“We do have some trail maintenance that needs to be done,” she said.

Hinson didn’t know the exact amount of timber that was taken from the park, but as of Friday the count was 100,000 board feet, she said.

, DataTimes MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: LEAVES Residents have been asked to rake their leaves into the street beginning Saturday, and on Monday, March 31, street crews will begin collecting them.