COEUR d’ALENE — Leaf pickup sounds like a simple operation.

It’s not.

At least, not in Coeur d’Alene.

The annual collection that started 7 a.m. Monday in the Fort Ground neighborhood required 10 dump trucks, four front end loaders and a team of 34 city staffers.

And there’s lots of advance notice, including use of six mobile message boards, so folks aren’t surprised when big rigs are zipping up and down their streets.

“It’s off to a super start,” said Todd Feusier, director of Streets and Engineering, who is in his second year overseeing the citywide program.

While a little more rain would have been helpful, conditions were close to ideal, with little or no wind and enough advance moisture to keep the leaves from flying all over the place — and perhaps most important and unlike last year, no snow.

Crews moved fast and furious, with leaves piled at intersections in the Sanders Beach neighborhood collected by dump trucks and hauled to the Ramsey Road transfer station for shredding. From there, they'll go to the Coeur d’Alene Airport for spreading in a field as a compost material.

The operation will move steadily north, with a projected completion date of Dec. 3.

Leaf Pickup historically will generate over 1,400 tons of leaves from all corners of town. 

Last year’s late October snowstorm made for a bit of a mushy mess and trees held their leaves longer than normal.

“This year, most trees have let go of them,” Feusier said.

The city is asking residents not to put leaves in the street after crews have passed, as pickup will happen only once, and not to include bagged leaves.

The city is also asking all residents to, if possible, move cars off the street during leaf pickup, be aware of leaf pickup equipment in your neighborhood, and keep branches, debris and trash out of leaf piles.