From holiday cheer to helping nature: recycle your tree.

Give your Christmas tree a second life in your forest preserves. By recycling your real, undecorated tree, you help create wood chips for trails and landscaping that enhance the preserves.

Drop off your tree at one of eight marked sites across Lake County, open daily from 6:30 am to sunset through February 1, 2025. No yard waste or commercial drop-offs are accepted.

Grant Woods in Ingleside

Greenbelt in North Chicago

Half Day in Vernon Hills

Heron Creek in Long Grove

Old School in Mettawa

Ryerson Conservation Area in Riverwoods

Van Patten Woods in Wadsworth

Facts

• The Lake County Forest Preserves has been accepting trees for recycling for at least 20 years.
• Most years more than 1,000 trees are donated.
• The majority of the trees are mulched for use on trails.
• Some trees are used to create "fish cribs." Staff ties several trees together and sinks them with a cinderblock in larger lakes, particularly those that were formerly gravel quarries and lack substantial underwater vegetation. These lakes benefit from the fish cribs, as they serve as crucial habitats for fish.

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