Stonington — The Ocean Community Chamber of Commerce will dismantle the popular lobster trap Christmas tree at the Town Dock on Thursday morning to prevent it from being damaged by the winter storm forecast for Saturday.

The 25-foot-tall tree, which has attracted tens of thousands of visitors since Thanksgiving weekend, was scheduled to stay up until Jan. 31.

But chamber President Lisa Konicki said Wednesday that after hearing the forecast for high winds and heavy snow, she scrambled to put together a group of volunteers to dismantle the tree, which contains 378 traps, 360 hand-painted buoys and thousands of multi-colored LED lights. 

"We've had a great run. It's time to put her to bed," Konicki said.

On the chamber's Facebook page she said that while the tree was not damaged by the strong winds from the last storm, "any sort of microburst, bomb cyclone or hurricane type weather prediction poses an entirely different challenge."

Volunteers willing to help the chamber on Thursday should go to the dock at 10 a.m. Vehicles with trailers are needed.