With the holidays over, don’t put your real tree out with the trash – let it be reused by nature.
Cut trees – with decorations removed – will be collected from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the following sites in Mahoning County and reused as natural fish habitat at area lakes:
- Austintown Township Park: 6000 Kirk Road.
- Beloit Village Park: 17910 E. Fifth St.
- Berlin Township Building: 15823 W. Akron-Canfield Road.
- Campbell: Salt dome, Warhurst Road.
- Canfield Township: Fire station, 5007 Messerly Road.
- Craig Beach-Milton Township: Next to fire station, 1979 Grandview Road, Craig Beach.
- Ellsworth Township: Fire station, 6036 S. Salem-Warren Road.
- Goshen Township: Maintenance garage, 12649 Seacrist Road.
- Green Township Cemetery: State Route 165 at Beaver Creek Road.
- Jackson Township Building: 10613 Mahoning Ave.
- Lowellville: Street department, 3 W. McGaffney.
- New Middletown-Springfield: Recycling center, 10720 Struthers Road.
- Poland Township Park: 7400 Moore Road.
- Struthers: Trees will be picked up at the curb.
- Youngstown: CCA (former South Branch Library), 1771 Market St.
The program will be in effect until Jan. 31.
Live-cut Christmas trees can also be recycled as the centerpiece of a wildlife-friendly brush pile, according to the Ohio Department of Natural Resources.
Place the tree in a desirable location and layer limbs around it in a square arrangement. Cover the top with additional brush to create a shelter for small animals.
Songbirds, including cardinals, chickadees, titmice, nuthatches and wrens travel in and out of brush piles for food, nesting and to escape predators. Small mammals such as rabbits and chipmunks also use brush piles for shelter and raising young. Brush piles are valuable shelter for overwintering insects like bees, moths and butterflies, as well.
Pictured at top: In this file photo provided by the Ohio Department of Natural Resources Division of Wildlife, recycled Christmas trees are prepared to be sunk in Berlin Lake.