Christmas was months ago, but part of Christmas still remains.

For Dr. Clarence Harms, professor of biology at Westminster College, Christmas trees are the gifts that keep on giving.

In January 1998, Harms started recycling Christmas trees when he had free time after the school dropped its four-week January term that Harms usually spent studying abroad with students.

Harms uses the trees for composting and habitat projects at the school's biology field station, located about a half-mile from the college campus.

Harms said he believes that trees deserve a second life and shouldn't just be thrown into a landfill.

This is why from late December to early January he drives around New Wilmington collecting Christmas trees. Harms has relied on word of mouth to get the trees.

He has people drop them off in the Hoyt Science Center parking lot on campus or the Methodist Church parking lot in town.

In the five years he has been collecting trees, Harms estimates he's gathered more than 400. The original trees have either been completely composted by now or have settled to the bottom of the habitat.

The habitat project involves the trees being piled on top of each other to form a home for small animals like rabbits, mice and birds. Harms said this type of shelter could save the animals in a hard winter.

For the composting project, the Christmas trees are chipped into small flakes and thrown on a heap consisting of yard waste, animal bedding and chopped up church bulletins.

Harms said he'd love to add some food waste from the college cafeteria. "If (we) had the time, energy and money, that's a project I'd like to see the college do," Harms said.

He said animal parts do not work well in composting because they smell, but vegetables and napkins could be used.

Composting is like recycling. "We're going to run out of land someday," Harms said.

While landfills are a necessary part of life, Harms said things are not sent there to compost. He added that core drillings in landfills found newspapers from the 1950s that were still readable.

The composting project allows Christmas trees and other waste to be used again to make the soil better.

Composting is one of the easier forms of recycling--keeping organic matter in a useful place rather than discarding it, Harms said. "Compost becomes loose fluffy soil conditioner and helps aerate the soil around trees and other plantings."

Another benefit is that it can help plants grow. "Composting, when properly done, also adds useful bacteria to the soil and they, in turn, help with the nutrition of the plants," he added.

In the last two years, another item has been added to the compost heap. Brittain Lake, located on Westminster's campus, is harvested of water plants each year. As many as 90 truckloads have been taken out of the lake. Harvesting the lake costs the school $12,000.

Harms said he is considering a grant proposal that will include buying a boat, which will allow the lake to be harvested at a fraction of the cost.

Other than during the summer when two students are hired full-time to work at the station, Harms runs the project by himself with the help of volunteers. Harms said part of the reason he does it is because he just likes being outside.

The biology field station is located a half-mile east of Brittain Lake and can be accessed by a nature trail or by car. Classes and other organizations such as the Cub Scouts use the station, which includes a barn that has been turned into a classroom.

People wanting to drop off trees can do so anytime at the gate of the station on New Wilmington-Fayette Road.

Heidi Krieger is a senior English major at Westminster College.