The City of Great Falls leaf pickup program in the boulevard district is Nov. 1-16.

Area schedules will be followed, but are subject to change due to weather conditions, equipment failure, personnel availability or unforeseeable emergencies. All schedule changes will be posted on the city website or the Park and Recreation Facebook page.

For those residing within the boulevard district, the natural resources division will vacuum leaves from the boulevards. The city street division will be sweeping streets in conjunction with the leaf pickup.

New this year, the forestry division is utilizing new leaf pick up equipment that requires critical placement of leaf piles.

There will be no manual raking done this year. Please reference the following tips for leaf placement:

• Place your leaf piles within the boulevard, closest to the street side.
• Do not place leaves towards the sidewalk or in the gutter.
• Do not place leaves around parked vehicles, as the new machines need a minimum of 1 foot clearance of any obstacle.
• Do not place leaves around tree bases, signs, light poles, or any other obstacles.
• To avoid obstructing traffic or clogging storm drains, residents are being asked to deposit leaves on the boulevard next to the curb and not in the street gutter. If you place leaf piles in the street gutter, rain, snow and vehicles driving on the piles make it impossible to pick up the leaves. Piles with branches, grass clippings, garden waste and pet waste cause damage to the equipment and will not be picked up. Please arrange for pickup of those items with your sanitation
  provider.
• Please have your leaves raked out to the boulevard by 7 a.m. the morning of your scheduled pickup day. If leaves are not ready when crews go through scheduled areas, the crews and vehicles will not backtrack for collection
  in that same day.

Streets and avenues in each area will be cleaned on alternate days. Please remove vehicles from the street and avenue on the scheduled pickup day to allow for vacuuming as well as street sweeping. Hours of forestry crew operation are
7 a.m. to 3 p.m., Monday through Friday.

For further information call the Park and Rec office at 771-1265, and check the city website and the Park and Rec Facebook page regularly for updates.