The City of Great Falls releases a schedule for leaf pickup

The City of Great Falls Boulevard District leaf collection program begins Wednesday, October 30, 2024 and runs through Friday, November 22, 2024.

Local schedules will be adhered to but are subject to change due to weather conditions, equipment failures, staff availability or unforeseen emergencies. Any schedule changes will be posted on the city’s website (link) and the Park & ​​Recreation Facebook page (link).

A new interactive Boulevard District tracking map is available this year – click here. On the map, users can see current routes taken by teams and the area in which they are currently working.

There are changes to this year’s leaf pickup schedule. For Boulevard District residents, the Department of Natural Resources will vacuum leaves from the boulevards. The City Street Division will be sweeping streets as part of the leaf collection campaign.

There will be no manual raking this year. Place your leaf piles closest to the street side of your boulevard residence. Do not place leaves on the sidewalk or in the gutter. Do not place leaves around parked vehicles as the new machines require a minimum clearance of 60cm around any obstacle.

In order not to obstruct traffic or block storm drains, residents are asked to leave leaves on the boulevard next to the curb and not in the street gutter. When leaf piles are placed in street gutters, it is not possible to collect the leaves due to rain, snow and passing vehicles.

Piles of branches, grass clippings, yard waste and pet waste will cause damage to equipment and will not be picked up. Please arrange collection of these items with your plumbing provider.

Please have all leaves on the boulevard raked out by 7 a.m. on the morning of your scheduled pickup day. If departures are not ready when crews transit the scheduled areas, crews and vehicles will not return for pickup on the same day.

Under normal conditions, the Forestry Department conducts the annual leaf collection program with three operational teams. Due to understaffing this year, the program will be run by two teams.

If your residence is on the left side of a one-way street in any of the areas, your residence will not follow the posted schedule due to this change. Due to the complexity of the equipment, these addresses will be picked up intermittently throughout the leaf collection schedule.

Please remove vehicles from the street and avenue on the scheduled pickup day to allow for vacuuming and sweeping. The forestry team’s operating hours are Monday to Friday from 7:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.