Christmas is over. That means most of us will be trashing those Christmas trees.
But think twice about that. Some people take them to the Outer Banks to help Mother Nature.
In tonight's Make It Green, park rangers say bring those trees on down, but clean them up first.
There it goes, joining hundreds of others to start a new life at the coast.
Fort Macon State Park collects the trees each year to help build sand dunes and reduce erosion.
It's a program that is not new.
And it's a simple answer to the annual delema.
Down here is the bath house at Fort Macon, where the tree collection provided the aquarium at Pine Knoll Shores a chance to teach it's winter campers what good these tree continue to be.
"You can't have enough sand on the beach, and these trees help hold sand which builds dunes. In the long run the more beach you've got the more sea turtles will end up nesting in the years to come, so yes it helps all marine life, the more dunes you have and it's a great idea and a great way to recycle your old Christmas tree," said Curt Hendrix of the Pine Knoll Shores Aquarium.
Rangers say the get about a thousand trees each year.
They want your tree, but they want it bare.
"We do ask that everybody remove tinsels lights, stands, anything that is not nature, because we don't want to introduce trash into the dunes," said John Fullwood, a Ft. Macon Park Ranger:
Fullwood says, beginning early next year they will be moving the trees out to the dunes and for that they will need some help.
You can take your trees to the fort macon state park daily 8 am until 5:30 pm.
They're collecting them now through mid-January.
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