It is that time of year when many of us think about ways to get rid of our Christmas tree.

The Nature Conservancy of Canada has a quick and easy suggestion: just put it in your backyard.

Spokesperson Andrew Holland said it can help overwintering birds hack our tough winter climate.

“They can prop it up near another tree, put it up against the fence, or just chuck it off their back deck. As long as it goes out there, that’s the name of the game,” Holland said in an interview.

You can even use your old tree as a bird feeder by redecorating it with pine cones filled with peanut butter, strings of peanuts and suet.

By the time spring rolls around, Holland said the fir tree will have lost most of its needles and will start to look like a dead tree.

You can then help out your flowers by mimicking what happens with dead trees in the forest.

“Cut the tree branches and lay them where the spring flowers start to emerge in your garden,” said Holland. “Then you place the tree trunk on soil and that will break down.”

The tree trunk will also provide a home for many backyard animals, such as toads and insects.

The more contact the cut branches and trunk have with the ground, the faster it will start to be recycled by fungi, insects and bacteria, said the Nature Conservancy.

For those who live in an apartment building or a condominium, Holland said your tree can also be put to use to help others.

“Try to contact local farmers or animal rehab centres. Sometimes they’ll use the trees as habitat for their animals and this type of thing,” he said.

You can find more details on the Nature Conservancy of Canada’s website.