By Kelly White
The holidays are over. It’s a new year and as you take down the decorations, you may find yourself wondering what to do with your Christmas tree.
Luckily, there is no need to worry or stress about what to do, because Lake Katherine Center & Botanical Gardens is here to help.
The nature center, nestled in the heart of the Palos Heights community at 7402 Lake Katherine Dr., is holding a tree recycling program from now through Sunday, January 14.
“It’s an easy thing for people to do and has multiple benefits,” Gareth Blakesley, Director and Chief Naturalist at Lake Katherine, said.
In order to drop off a tree, just as Blakesley said, it’s rather simple. Those interested can start by removing all seasonal decorations, including and especially any plastic ornaments and tinsel. Once all décor is removed, the physical tree can be brought to Lake Katherine. There is a designated area right on-site at the nature center, at the end of the parking lot near the farm implementations for drop-off.
The best part is that it’s all for a good cause. All donated trees will be chipped and distributed along Lake Katherine’s nature trails in the spring, providing fresh mulch and woodchips for all of the walking trail grounds.
The chipping will take place early April.
This was the second year the nature center has held the tree recycling program, but Lake Katherine staff said they are happy to keep it an annual tradition after the holiday because of the environmental profits.
“There are many benefits to this process, but the most important one is diverting trees from landfills and giving them a new purpose,” Blakesley said. “Christmas trees in landfill rot and release methane a major greenhouse gas, chipping them and using them help return carbon in a slow-release way back to soil.”
Lake Katherine is an 85-acre public park consisting of gardens, woodland, wetlands, prairie, and a 10-acre manmade lake. The park was created in 1988 for the purpose of providing public recreation opportunities for residents of Chicago’s southwest suburbs, and the lake was excavated as a retention basin to hold storm water before it flows into the Cal-Sag Channel.
The nature center continues to develop and educate the public on the importance of celebrating nature. In the past decade, there has been much restoration effort with teams of volunteers regularly removing buckthorn and around 50 native trees planted every year.
Efforts like the tree recycling program help to keep the nature center beautiful and functional year-round.
“We did not count the exact number of trees that came in last year, but there were a lot, as we are anticipating again this year,” Blakesley said.
Data will be collected from the exact number of trees donated this year, by volunteers and staff at the nature center, to document how well the program is doing on an annual basis going forward, according to Lake Katherine staff members.
