City to Accept Donated Live Trees

Camarillo residents who bought live trees this year but don’t have back yards big enough for planting them now that Christmas is over have another option, city park officials said Tuesday.

Residents can donate the trees, which can grow up to 30 to 40 feet tall, to be planted in local parks, officials said.

“Rather than having something that big in their yard, they’ll put it somewhere where everybody can enjoy it,” said Eldred Lokker, general manager of the Pleasant Valley Park and Recreation District.

The park district has been planting donated, live Christmas trees for the past 20 years in the 22 parks that it manages in Camarillo and surrounding unincorporated areas, he said.

This year, the Camarillo Kiwanis Club is providing free pickup service for residents who want to donate their trees to the park district.

Lokker said live trees usually are about five- to six-feet-tall when they are sold for Christmas.

But residents who have planted the trees in their yards have later had to remove them because they grow so large, he said.

The park district has planted about 30 trees in 11 different parks since the donation program began, Lokker said.

He said residents who donate trees may request that they be planted in parks near their homes.

“We’ll try to accommodate them,” Lokker said.

For information or to request a tree pickup, call the park district at 482-1996.