Public notices

Notices are posted here, at the counter, and on the board outside the Sorting Facility, which is checked more often than this page and the Department knows it.

Notice 26-09: Oak backlog holds at 14 months; loaner program expanded

Posted September 22, 2026

The oak reattachment backlog remains at 14 months following the heavy mast year. Households with oak parcels in Zones 5 and 6 should expect their spring 2025 leaves in spring 2027. The leaves are in Bay 11, correctly filed, at 41 degrees, and in better condition than they would be on the ground, which the Department offers as perspective rather than consolation.

Effective October 1, the loaner leaf program (fee code LR-E) is expanded to all oak parcels. Loaners are species-matched from the surplus bay and must be returned raked, not bagged. Households that grow attached to loaner leaves may petition to keep them, and the Board wishes to state plainly that this has happened.

Notice 26-08: Annual reminder regarding the evergreen exemption

Posted September 8, 2026

Under Ordinance 14-2, evergreen trees are exempt from collection and reattachment because their leaves do not fall. The Department issues this reminder every September because every September someone bags needles anyway. Needles found in bags are removed by hand, counted, and noted in the parcel file. Last year the count was 41,000. The sorting line would like the count to be zero, and has asked that this sentence be included.

Residents who believe their evergreen is shedding at an unusual rate should consult an arborist, not this Department. If the arborist finds the tree is dying, that is sad, and still exempt.

Notice 26-07: Leaves deposited in other towns

Posted August 25, 2026

The Department has received a complaint from a resident whose leaves blew into East Corliss before collection week and who expected retrieval. The Department's position, unchanged since 1988, is that leaves that leave Maple Hollow before collection have left the program. East Corliss does not operate a reattachment department, does not intend to, and has asked us to stop forwarding the complaints.

Residents in wind-prone parcels are encouraged to rake promptly and to review the netting guidance in the Zone 3 standard, which is available to all zones and judged by none.

Notice 24-07: The Zone 3 wind event of April 2024

Posted April 19, 2024. Retained by Board order.

On the night of April 16, 2024, sustained winds of 52 miles per hour crossed Windrow Heights eleven days into the Zone 3 reattachment window. Of the 96,000 leaves attached that week, approximately 71,000 were undone. Crews recovered 58,000 from the Gale Street corridor, the school roof, and one porch that the Department has since re-screened at its own expense.

An after-action review found the adhesive performed to specification; the specification had simply never contemplated April. The Board adopted the netting standard that summer, and Zone 3 has completed two windows since without loss. The Department considers the matter closed and asks residents to stop referring to it as "the incident" at public comment, as there is a form of words in the standard for this purpose: "the 2024 exceedance."

Notice 26-06: Parcel tags for the 2026 collection season

Posted August 11, 2026

Tags mailed the week of September 14. Each sheet contains 30 tags, which is enough for any tree in town except the Bellows Lane beech, whose household receives two sheets and our respect. Lost sheets are replaced at the counter. Tags from prior years are void, and the crews can tell, because the ink is different, and because they check.