Grant Park area residents donated 284 post-holiday Christmas trees to the Grant Park Conservancy, Saturday.

The Conservancy, charged with preserving and advocating for the 131.5-acre Grant Park, collected the trees as part of the "Bring One for the Chipper" recycling program.

The donated trees were placed on the hill behind the bandstand. Most of them will remain there, to help fight against soil erosion.

When it rains the runoff from the top end of the hill washes away the topsoil and the trees will serve as buttress against erosion, said Alisa Chambers, the Conservancy's director of operations.

The Chipper program — the 10th year of the Conservancy's participation — is one of the preservation projects the group is spearheading.

Thirty-seven trees have to be cut down because they're diseased and dying while another 23 have to be pruned, said Jana Miles, the Conservancy's acting executive director.

Sixty new trees were planted in the park Dec. 29.