Oakleaf - I think we have both those varieties here (from the photos), too. I'm only just learning about invasive species in the PNW - totally different things from what I saw in NC or in FL (or even in New England). For us personally, blackberries and wild grapes are an issue...among other things. But the goats love em!

Our secret is having goats fenced in...then you just rip up the plants/branches that you don't want and bring them to their pen! Seriously, the amount of yard waste that we have 'left over' is soooo small. We actually lopped the tops off two old apple trees this winter and we managed to chop it all up for kindling or firewood. The amount that was 'waste' was barely enough to make a pile (even though it took us WEEKS of hard labor ).

We are definitely limited in our ability to burn (both in a yard pile AND from the woodstove) by the weather. If there is an inversion, you can get fined if you are caught with smoke coming out of your chimney! They take pollution pretty seriously around here - even in the country.

When we lived in NC - we used to run over the leaf piles with the lawn mower (with a bag on) to shred the few bags we needed for our tiny garden. It worked well and all the rest of the leaves were raked up and left at the curb for the city's leaf collection program. Now, we don't get enough leaves for all our needs. We collect all we can to dump on the garden, but we don't have to bother with shredding - with our warm, wet winters, it decomposes easily from a whole leaf. And we never have enough to add to the compost pile once we do the garden. It's such a joy in comparison to previous houses I've lived in where the fall leaf situation dominated our October weekends.