NJ: Don’t toss your Christmas tree, recycle it instead

🎄 The American Littoral Society wants Christmas trees for a shoreline project

🎄 Trees will be used to build up salt marshes in Point Pleasant

🎄 Trees can be dropped off at a church all month long

POINT PLEASANT — If you have not gotten around to tossing your live Christmas tree, consider giving it a new lease on life by donating it.

For the third year in a row, the American Littoral Society is collecting Christmas trees all month long for the Slade Dale Sanctuary living shoreline project in Point Pleasant.

What is the Slade Dale Sanctuary Project?

The purpose of the tree collection is to help restore the ecologically valuable salt marshes, bring resiliency to communities, and help clean the air, said Capt. Alek Modjeski, Habitat Restoration Director at the American Littoral Society.

The shoreline at Slade Dale Sanctuary has eroded approximately 600 feet since 1930, losing about 2.6 acres, he said.

“We’re trying to bring that back by stuffing breakwaters with Christmas trees to slow down wave action and reduce the erosion rate,” Modjeski said.

The breakwaters are wooden structures set in Beaverdam Creek.

The marsh has become very heavily eroded, so much so that saltwater intrusion is killing some of the trees, as well, Modjeski said.

The goal is to build the 600-foot swath back out and slow the wave action by filling the cribbings with Christmas trees.

“We do this every year so it’s essentially a community-driven type of project. Every year on Earth Day or around Earth Day, and this year it is on Earth Day on Saturday, April 21, we’ll have volunteers out there again and we’ll stuff the cribbings with all the Christmas trees we’ve collected, and we’ll go from there,” Modjeski said.

What is the importance of the sanctuary?

The Slade Dale Sanctuary is nearly 13 acres of open forest. Its pine-oak forest, hardwood swamp, and salt marsh provide a space of protected wilderness, providing nursery habitat for fish, and a foraging habitat for ospreys, egrets, and bald eagles, according to the American Littoral Society website.

The idea is to maintain and keep as much open space as possible, Mojeski said. Not only does the sanctuary provide clean air, it’s a place where people can walk their dogs and get in tune with nature. It’s important to have that outside connection to the natural environment.

Where can you donate Christmas trees?

Trees can be dropped off at Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, 708 Route 88, Point Pleasant in the field behind the parking lot. Please be sure to remove all ornaments, tinsel, and lights before donating the trees.

Modjeski said 50 trees have already been donated by individual residents. Another 75 trees were given to The American Littoral Society by Shore River Gardens, a family-owned garden center in Manasquan. He said the owner simply wants to give back to the community. The Department of Public Works has also promised about 300 to 400 trees, as well.

What is the role of the Christmas tree?

When Hurricane Katrina struck and devastated New Orleans, Louisiana in 2005, branch-box breakwaters with branches were built. The brush was available to fill them.

But when The American Littoral Society started the Slade Dale Sanctuary living shoreline project years back, those types of branches were not available and there was no brush to be used for these branch-box breakwaters.

When walking the dune line in Bradley Beach, Modjeski and others noticed the town was using recycled Christmas trees to build the dunes back.

“So, we thought why can’t we do the same thing and use this resource in the branch-box breakwaters here in New Jersey and have the community involved every year to fill them,” he said.

The Christmas trees work very well because they buffer the waves, then eventually they break down and create an uplift into the marsh platform. It’s a win-win for the American Littoral Society to take these trees that would end up in a dumpster, and instead, use them to better the resiliency of the community.

The living shoreline project at Slade Dale is all about community, Modjeski said. It allows residents to be a part of the process to help restore salt marshes, habitats, and forests, and it all starts with your Christmas tree.

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