Christmas tree pickup will aid wetland protection

St. Charles Parish will pick up curbside trees as part of recycling program

Your Christmas trees don’t have to go to waste following the holiday season.

Those wishing to donate their real Christmas trees to local wetlands protection and enhancement efforts should place their trees curbside for pickup by Jan. 12.

The pickups are part of a program executed by St. Charles Parish intended to help protect the wetlands.

“The project is simple for residents to participate in and is a cost effective way to help restore valuable wetlands,” St. Charles Parish spokesman Tristan Babin said. “In the Bayou Gauche area, the project has already helped hundreds of acres of ponds to become more shallow and that has allowed for submerged aquatic vegetation to establish itself again.

“St. Charles Parish was the first place to ever do a Christmas tree recycling project and we are very proud of our continued participation in the program.”

Alternatively, trees may be brought to designated areas at the East and West Bank Bridge Parks in Destrehan and Luling. All trees should be completely stripped of decorations. Flocked or artificial trees cannot be donated.

The trees will be collected, bundled and placed in coastal zones.

A number of parishes statewide are participating in the project. It is funded by the Office of Coastal and Environmental Affairs.

“The Christmas tree project helps in two ways,” said Babin. “The pens help slow down water to prevent further erosion and it keeps the trees from going to the landfill.”

St. Charles Parish has been reusing Christmas trees for coastal restoration since 1987 and has been at its current project in the Bayou Gauche area for the past nine years.Unlike other trees, Christmas trees are large and lightweight and allow the movement of water and sediment without being a barrier. The limbs are also organic and provide an ideal fisheries habitat. The brush fences that are created by the trees allow the creation of marsh habitat, while also providing an effective wavebreak and increasing water clarity.

The prototype of the current brush fence was actually implemented for the first time in St. Charles Parish in 1989. At that time, 23 brush fences were built and filled with 8,000 used Christmas trees obtained from local citizens. The fences were inserted into the La Branche Wetlands.

The project really took off after that, and in 1996, former President Bill Clinton donated 50 Christmas trees from the White House, which were all placed into the Louisiana marsh. Throughout the past  years of the program, more than 40,000 linear feet of brush fences has been built, protecting 250 acres of marsh.

Not only is the project beneficial because it protects the wetlands, but it also relieves overburdened landfills.

 

About Ryan Arena 2944 Articles
Sports Editor

Be the first to comment

Leave a Reply