Steamboat Pilot & Today

Steamboat Springs — Mulch your lawn, mulch your garden. Heck, mulch your bathroom. At least 200 cubic yards of mulch is sitting in the parking lot by the Howelsen Ice Arena, ready for the taking.
The mulch, which the city had made from its old trees, is being offered to the residents of Steamboat Springs free of charge.
"We have what we believe is between 200 and 300 yards of mulch," said parks crew leader Ernie Jenkins. "If they take half of that pile, then that would still leave us with more than enough for the city."
Jenkins expects homeowners to take about half a yard of mulch apiece. They will have to figure out how to transport the mulch from the parking lot themselves.
"It'll be hard to get there once it starts snowing. Bring a pitchfork or a shovel," Jenkins said.
The city uses mulch in its parks and recreation areas. Usually, the city pays about $1,200 a year purchasing mulch, Jenkins said.
The city usually carts its dead trees off to a dump a number of miles away, but that solution has proven both expensive and wasteful, Jenkins said.
"Rather than pay a lot of money to take that to the dump, this is a way to recycle," Jenkins said. "It's an all-around good deal."
Although the city owns a woodchipper that it uses to chop branches and small trees, it hired a company out of Brighton, Tree Specialists, to handle the larger trees. The city paid $200 to $300 an hour to have the trees mulched. The Parks and Recreation Department had expected to get about 100 to 150 cubic yards of mulch, but ended up with far more.
"It's no longer a pile of mulch," Jenkins said. "It's a mountain of mulch."

To reach Avi Salzman call 871-4203 or e-mail asalzman@amigo.net