FAIRMONT – When everything needs to be taken down, spots are available to safely dispose of natural Christmas trees.

The Fairmont City Street Shop at 417 East Margaret Street and Sherburn Nursery Drop Site at 10 Park Street will take Christmas trees. Director for Martin County Solid Waste Andy Geiger said any other greenery related to the Christmas season can be thrown away.

Taking Christmas trees to these places is paramount as Minnesota seeks to ward off invasive species. These include Elongate Hemlock Scale, an insect that causes tree needles to prematurely yellow and drop, fungal disease Boxwood Blight, invasive noxious weed Round Leaf Bittersweet and Spongy Moth.

“Sometimes products come from out of our state,” Minnesota Department of Agriculture Entomologist Angie Ambourn said. “There are different kinds of invasive insects, invasive diseases, and even invasive plants that might be carrying seeds that can get into those products and come into our state, if those products are not from Minnesota.”

With these types of diseases, Ambourn said they can be noticeable.

“You start seeing insects crawling or some kind of fruiting body, which might be from a disease,” she said. “If there’s something growing on the tree, you would want to either try to collect it or take a picture of it and get a hold of someone like me at the Department of Agriculture who might be able to help you identify it.”

To prevent this, Ambourn said the best thing is to do your research and buy local.

“Looking for things that are Minnesota-grown,” she said. “Asking where the products came from. Did they come from Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan? Are they from the upper Midwest?”

Thankfully, Ambourn said none of these invasive species or diseases can have negative effects on pets or people.

The risks of these invasive species depend on which one is being discussed. Spongy Moth is already in Minnesota, but it getting into Martin County would mean more of Minnesota being affected that wasn’t already. For Elongate Hemlock Scale, Ambourn said scientists are working to see if this insect could survive in Minnesota, and which plants it could attach to.

In disposing of Christmas trees, Geiger said whether they are dropped off in Sherburn or Fairmont, they get chipped up into little pieces and composted. Regarding infections, Geiger said he has seen some Christmas trees people have purchased be affected by either Boxwood Blight or Elongate Hemlock Scale.

While they don’t have a pick-up program, Geiger said bringing the trees to either drop site is free.

“The option is that you can haul it there yourself for free,” he said. “There’s no charge for it. It’s a pretty wide-open spot. Both sites work well, and you just drop them off and leave them there.”

Even though they always have space available, Geiger said the usage of this program has been vast.

“It’s shocking how much,” he said. “It’s typically with dump trailers behind the Sentenced To Serve van. It’s multiple loads. It’s a pretty good, high-use program.”

The program opened on Dec. 26 and will be available through Jan. 10. If the tree cannot be brought out in this time frame, Geiger said your garbage company should be able to take it.