County crews on their way to sweep streets of leaves.

Byline: The Register-Guard

Call it the next wave in leaf collection.

A week after Eugene began gathering its leaves, Lane County kicks off its effort for the year starting Monday in unincorporated parts of the River Road/Santa Clara area before heading over to areas outside Springfield's city limits.

Springfield city folk shouldn't feel left out: Their collection program begins Dec. 1.

Here are Lane County's ground rules if you want its crews to pick up your trees' leaves.

But be advised: Crews only collect on county-maintained roads with storm drainage systems.

Leaves must be in the road, yet away from parked cars, storm drains and gutters, bike and traffic lanes, and curbs. Leaves piled in the street improperly or too early can plug storm drains, pollute waterways and make it treacherous for bicyclists and motorists.

Crews cannot pick up leaves in yards. Also, don't put debris such as branches, rocks, metal or lawn clippings in your leaf piles and don't bag them. (Folks inside Springfield city limits will have to bag their leaves.)

Put leaves out no sooner than a week before your area is to be collected.

Now, here's the county crews' strategy.

Starting promptly Monday morning, they'll set out on the west side of River Road, in the Maxwell Road area, and move north to Beacon Drive on the west side of River Road.

Then they'll move over to the east side of River Road at Beacon and proceed south to Hunsaker Lane. The collection is expected to take four to five days.

The crews will hit Springfield's unincorporated areas beginning Nov. 18. They'll start around the Harlow Road/Hayden Bridge area; then move to the area bound roughly by Centennial Boulevard, Interstate 5, Interstate-105 and Aspen Street; then to the Second Street/Harbor Drive area; and wrapping up on Jasper Road. The county estimates the collection to take three to four days.

A second round will begin Nov. 24 in the River Road/Santa Clara area, following the same route of the first go-round.

The second sweep of the Springfield area gets under way Dec. 8.

A third run is scheduled for Dec. 29 in River Road/Santa Clara and then Jan. 5 in Springfield.

For more information, call the county leaf pickup hotline at 682-8565 or check the Web at www.lanecounty.org/pw for a schedule of pickups.

For residents who can't take advantage of the county program, two local firms accept leaves and other yard debris for a nominal fee: Rexius Forest By-Products, 345-2174; and Lane Forest Products, 345-9085.

Here are other leaf collection schedules for this week:

City of Eugene: The first round of collection in North Eugene was completed on schedule. Crews will proceed to central Eugene starting Monday, in the River Road area, and proceed south and east to the Jefferson-Westside and downtown Eugene neighborhoods later in the week.

For more information, call 682-5383 or go to the Web at www.ci.eugene.or.us/pw/leaves.

Eugene residents, like those in metropolitan Lane County, should place leaves in the streets, away from parked cars, at least a foot from the curb, free of yard debris, and not blocking bicycle or vehicle travel lanes, gutters or storm drains.

City of Springfield: Collection of bagged leaves begins Dec. 1 west of 28th Street. Unlike Eugene and Lane County, residents must bag their leaves instead of piling them in the street.

Though leaves are collected by Sanipac, leaf pickup is separate from regular garbage service. For more information, call 726-3637.