It’s about time for Kalispell residents to drag their Christmas trees out to the curb. Teams of volunteers make the first of three rounds to pick up the trees on Saturday, Jan. 12.

Trees set out along the street will be collected and then hauled to a central location where Kalispell employees can chip them.

“We usually handle between 2,000 and 2,500 trees,” Parks and Recreation Director Mike Baker said. “We’ve been doing this for quite a while.

“We’ve had the benefit of this volunteer group to be able to do this and that has helped us tremendously. It’s worked out really well.”

Volunteers use their own vehicles to pick up the trees.

They’re scheduled to make a second round to collect trees on Saturday, Jan. 19 and a third and final round on Jan. 26.

“Any trees left after the three weeks the city will eventually get to and pick up. But usually [the volunteers] do a pretty good job,” Baker said.

Trees put out for collection must be free of all ornaments, stands, tinsel, garland and other decorative items so they can be chipped. People also are asked to place trees standing up if at all possible so they don’t freeze into the snow.

In past years, old trees were used for a bank stabilization project on Flathead Lake. That project has been completed, so the trees will be chipped.

Those chips will be made available to the public later this summer, or used by the city for its own projects if no one else wants to use them.

Reporter Tom Lotshaw may be reached at 758-4483 or by email at tlotshaw@dailyinterlake.com.