Local chipping services are currently available and ready to be used by residents throughout the Lake Tahoe Basin to assist in defensible space work. Defensible space is the barrier that helps slow or halt the progress of fire that would otherwise engulf a property. Creating and maintaining defensible space is a key concept in wildfire prevention and is important for local fire adapted communities. All neighborhoods can take steps toward creating defensible space around their homes by clearing vegetative debris, pine needles, and woody materials.
Each fire district hosts “chipping programs” which can be requested by local individuals and neighborhoods. Chipping programs provide a chipping crew to come to a local residence and chip the debris created through defensible space work such as during neighborhood workdays, which may entail activities like brush clearing and tree pruning. This valuable resource can greatly assist in community efforts to manage fuels around homes and improve overall wildfire preparedness.
The residential curbside chipping program is grant-funded to support property owners as they create defensible space, with a goal of reducing vegetation that would be fuel during a wildfire. This program is not to be used by tree service and defensible space contractors. Large piles left by contractors will not be chipped.
This project was funded due to the Southern Nevada Public Land Management Act, which authorized the sale of BLM administered federal lands within a designated boundary in the Las Vegas Valley and required proceeds to be used on projects to fund federal, state, and local projects that benefit communities and public lands.