Helicopter flights are scheduled at the City of Longmont’s Button Rock Preserve (west of Lyons) on December 30, December 31, or January 6 – pending weather conditions – to support the Spillway Knoll Forest Health and Wildfire Risk Reduction Project. Trail closures and periodic temporary road closures will be in effect in the immediate area of the helicopter operation. Trail closures include the North Shore Trail and the roadway along Ralph Price Reservoir. 

The Spillway Knoll project is a 34-acre forest health and wildfire risk reduction treatment near Button Rock Dam and Ralph Price Reservoir. The project will help reduce the risk of severe wildfire to Ralph Price Reservoir – the primary source of drinking water for Longmont and Lyons – and protect utility infrastructure. The project was planned in consultation with foresters at the Colorado State Forest Service and is supported by a Strategic Fire Mitigation Grant (SFMG) from Boulder County. For more information on these types of projects, please visit the Button Rock Forest Stewardship webpage.  

Helicopter flights will be limited to one workday and consist of extracting logs from steep terrain otherwise inaccessible by machinery. Log extraction will reduce impacts on the forest floor, remove wildfire fuel from the landscape, and limit the need for slash pile burning. 

All logs generated by the project will be distributed as free firewood to the public. Please visit the Surplus Wood Program webpage for information on upcoming firewood giveaway events. 

For additional information, contact the City of Longmont Parks & Natural Resources Department at 303-651-8416. Updates will be posted to longmontcolorado.gov/news.