The unusually early snowstorms and prolonged cold weather during the fall and winter of 2022 prevented the City of Missoula’s Street Maintenance & Operations Division crews from beginning their leaf collection efforts. Since the weather is warming up and most of the snow on leaf piles has melted, crews expect to start picking up leaves on Monday, April 3, weather permitting. Crews will use heavy equipment to scoop up the leaves and then street sweeping crews will continue the cleanup during their regular spring sweeping process.
Crews will work their way around the city in the same order they normally use for fall leaf collection, starting in the neighborhoods north of the Clark Fork River during the first week (Area 1 on the map linked below). Those neighborhoods include the Rattlesnake Valley and Grant Creek, along with most of the north side of downtown and the West Side and North Side areas. Crews then move to central Missoula south of the river (Area 2) and throughout the rest of the city through April. Please see the entire schedule and collection area map on the City’s website at www.ci.missoula.mt.us/504/Leaf-Collection.
Sweeping up streets after the leaves are collected takes longer to complete, so residents can expect sweepers to come by according to the sweeping schedule and map on our website at www.ci.missoula.mt.us/561/Street-Sweeping. Completing both leaf collection and street sweeping at the same time is not the usual process, so both schedules could vary from what is planned.
- City crews depend on residents to make leaf collection and street sweeping go as smoothly and
quickly as possible, so we ask the following:
• Please rake (or re-rake) leaves to the curb in the parking lane but not out into the bike lane or driving lane. If there is not a parking lane, please rake leaves to the curb but use no more than half of the bike lane. Make piles long and narrow.
• Sweep any rocks or sand on sidewalks into the street along with the leaves.
Ensure leaves do not block any stormwater inlets, especially if it’s raining or snowing as
the stormwater will not be able to filter through the leaves to reach the storm drain.
• Please complete raking before your pickup week starts. Crews may visit your street on the first day. They will then move on through the area.
• When parking, please allow room for Streets Division crews to get to leaf piles with frontend loaders and trucks. See the Leaf Collection web page for parking instructions in special districts during leaf collection.
• Leaves only, please. Debris and limbs delay leaf pickup and can damage equipment.
• Trees must be pruned to a minimum of 14 feet over the street to the inside edge of the curb line. Trees that do not meet this requirement may have to be trimmed by City crews to complete leaf collection and street sweeping. If you have questions about City trees (usually planted in the boulevard or public right-of-way), please call Missoula Parks and Recreation’s Urban Forestry Division at 406-552-6253, or visit
www.ci.missoula.mt.us/230/Urban-Forestry.
• For street sweeping, residents are asked to park vehicles on the even-numbered side of the street on even-numbered days and on the odd-numbered side of the street on oddnumbered days from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. In Special Sweeping Districts, parking is prohibited on both sides of the street from 6 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Leaves that have been in the street all winter will be full of sand, debris, and deicer, so residents are asked to dispose of them with their regular trash if they don’t want to wait for Streets crews to collect them. Leaves that have spent the winter on the grass can be taken to Garden City Compost. Please see Garden City’s web page at www.ci.missoula.mt.us/2089/Garden-CityCompost or call 406-552-6619 for drop-off pricing and other information. Residents who miss their neighborhood’s scheduled pickup time can call the Street Operations & Maintenance Division at 406-552-6360 to be placed on a list for another collection time, as weather permits and after all areas are completed.