Don't know what to do with your Christmas tree? Recycle it for dune restoration at Gulf State Park and give back to the natural amenity of the area so many people love to visit and call home.

From Dec. 26 to the end of January, live Christmas trees will be collected on the east side of the State Park Pavilion parking lot next to the dumpsters.

Trees must be clean of any ornaments and decorations to be recycled. Be sure not to place trees in front of the dumpsters.

A Facebook post from Gulf State Park said the donated trees will be used in dune restoration projects completed by park staff, Gulf Shores and Orange Beach students and Dune Doctors, an organization focused on coastal dune restoration.

"These trees, along with thousands of dune plants, help capture wind-driven sand, which aids in restoring our delicate dune ecosystems, protects our community from storms and provides habitat for native wildlife," the post reads.

The City of Orange Beach announced on Facebook that residents can recycle live Christmas trees by placing them — undecorated — on their curbs for pickup by public works by Jan. 2. These trees will be brought to the pavilion drop off location.

Restoration projects are set to begin in February.

In February 2025, GCM attended the fourth-annual Planting for Protection (P4P) event where Dune Doctors and Gulf Shores City School students worked to carry out a student-led restoration project.

In the project, students planted 3,500 dune plants in two days around half-buried, old Christmas trees. Plants from the first year of the program have reached maturity and no old trees can be seen.

"Efforts like Planting for Protection help the beach in the long run," Amanda Post, education coordinator for Dune Doctors, told GCM previously. "Coastal dunes not only protect us from the storm surge events and provide habitat for wildlife, but they also function as reserves that will one day help replenish the beach with sand when the next major storm erodes Alabama's coastline."