- Time of the season where people are getting rid of Christmas trees
- Putting them in the sand dunes is an environmentally friendly way to get rid of them
- Nueces County Coastal Parks says proper steps must be taken to do it correctly
Christmas and New Year's have passed, and now its time to take the Christmas decorations down. Many people are not aware of the proper ways to dispose of their Christmas trees.
Here in the Coastal Bend, one option is to put them in the sand dunes of the beaches that line Padre Island.
But, this needs to be done the correct way in order to benefit the environment. Some benefits when done properly are protecting the dunes from storms, helping build them up higher, helping vegetation grow, and protecting against erosion.
Scott Cross, Director of Nueces County Coastal Parks, only advises to discard of your tree in the dunes if you keep certain things in mind.
"You would typically want to do it where there is no vegetation. You don't want to do it and you don't want to disturb the vegetation which is a no no under the Texas administrative code and the natural resources code," Cross said.
In addition to the state of vegetation in the area, it is important to consider private property lines.
"You could be trespassing. Because that adjacent property owner owns that property from the LOV, or line of vegetation, upwards. So it's kind of tricky," Cross said.
Christmas tree disposal in the dunes is not an organized event, but Cross said it has potential to be.
"It could and it doesn't necessarily have to be me. It could be a local individual that wants to organize it," he said.
If interested in helping the environment by putting old Christmas tree in the dunes, Nueces County Coastal Parks advises to follow the proper precautions so it can successfully help protect the dunes.
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