TREE DISPOSAL OFFERED

The annual end-of-the-year holidays -- Christmas and New Year's -- are rapidly disappearing, and residents are being faced with the chore of dismantling or disposing of the family Christmas tree.

You can't drag the tree to the city dump any more. Senate Bill 530, solid-waste legislation passed three years ago, took care of that.

Cape Girardeans, however, can haul their trees to a special site in Arena Park, where they will be "recycled," used for fish habitat in area ponds and lakes, or ground into landscaping mulch to be made available to residents.

The drop-off area is in south Arena Park at Spartech and Optimist Drive and is marked. There is no charge for leaving the tree.

The drop-off site will remain open through Jan. 14. A number of trees have already been left at the site.

Another option: Residents can request a special pickup.

A city public works office spokesman said the city will do the same as last year.

For a $5 fee, the city will pick trees up at the curb through a special Wednesday pickup, but residents must call the public works offices for the service.

The first Wednesday pickup will be Jan. 11, the spokesman said.

Many of the trees from the Arena Park drop-off site will be used by Missouri's Department of Conservation for fish shelters in area lakes.

Christmas Trees will also be picked up at sites throughout Southeast Missouri to use as fish shelters in Clearwater and Wappapello lakes.

The Corps of Engineers has established three collection points in the Wappapello Lake area -- Chaonia Landing and Holliday Landing boat ramps at Wappapello Lake, and the American Superstore in Poplar Bluff. Trees may be left at these sites through Jan. 7.

Collection points for the Clearwater Lake area are at Piedmont Park, near the boat ramp, and Town and Country Supermarket at Ellington.

The trees will be placed in the lake in January.

The trees provide an effective and economical means of providing fish habitat, said Michael McClendon, a Corps spokesman at Lake Wappapello. The fish shelters provide fish with breeding areas, resting places and protection, say fish conservationists.

McClendon said the fish shelters represent a popular recycling methods for Christmas trees."

The trees can easily be prepared as fish habitat by taking a 50-pound concrete block, wiring four or five average-size trees to the block and sinking them.

"We're always looking for volunteers to help submerge the trees in the lake," McClendon said.

The Wappapello Lake tree operation will be Jan. 14 between 8:30 and 9 a.m. at Chaonia Landing or Holliday Landing boat ramps.

Additional information at Wappapello is available by contacting the Wappapello Lake Management office at 222-8562.

A date hasn't been established to place tree shelters at Clearwater Lake, but people wanting to help build and transport the shelters at Clearwater may call the Clearwater Lake resident's office in Piedmont, 223-7777.