Free Tree Debris Removal Program Ends Soon

By Michelle Cyr-Whiting

Beetle kill trees recently cut from a greenspace along Foothills Boulevard

City residents hoping to take advantage of a free service removing beetle tree slash from their properties have to act fast...

The program - run jointly by the City of Prince George and Service Canada - officially ends on February 24th, meaning residents should phone in by the end of this week to be put on the service schedule.  (The number to call is 564-4115, local 237)

The free assistance involves crews removing fences prior to beetle kill trees being cut - the actual falling is done by professional companies hired by the homeowner - and, then, the crews come back to clean up the slash and re-install fences.  The aim is to reduce beetle tree clean-up costs to residents.

The City's Environment Manager, Mark Fercho, says this is the second year the program has been run in the city.  Prince George contributes $250-thousand dollars and Service Canada puts up $570-thousand dollars for this job skills training initiative.  During the first program, from March 2005 to February 2006, 531 residential properties and 21 City parks and properties were serviced. 

Fercho says there were some hiccups to be ironed out the first year, as it was a ground-breaking program.  He says year two has been much more efficient and, so far, a total of 792 private properties and 34 city parks have been cleared of debris.  And the wait times have gone from six weeks in the inaugural program to within the same week for most of this year.

He says Prince George really developed the template for this work experience program and it was adopted by Kelowna a few months ago and is just coming on-line in Kamloops.

Fercho says he's already in negotiations with Service Canada about the possibilities of running a third program.

Email | Print | Facebook | Twitter | Digg | Del.icio.us