December 20,  2018

Question: I heard somewhere that Christmas trees can be recycled to create habitat for wild animals. I don’t remember the details or have any idea how to find out if this is available in my community. I hate to put my tree out to the curb after the holidays, if I could actually donate it to help the environment in some way. (Sonja)

Answer: What a great question! We appreciate your altruistic spirit. Yes, fisheries biologists can and do recycle Christmas trees to build habitat for juvenile fish. Last summer alone, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) Fish Habitat Improvement Shop in Yreka used about 200 Christmas trees and small junipers that they’d collected right after the holidays to create 22 fish habitat structures that were placed into Green Springs Reservoir in Modoc County.
Donated trees – which need to be free of tinsel, ornaments and other decorations – are tied together, weighed down with cables and placed into the water. Once submerged, the tree trunks and branches become a nursery for small warmwater fish (mainly bass and crappie).

Interestingly, the small fish attract larger, catchable fish that congregate in the area, looking for an easy meal – so the installation of the habitat structures also ultimately leads to improved fishing opportunities for anglers, too!

This winter there will be several efforts to collect trees for this purpose. All of these are in the north state (Siskiyou, Modoc and Placer counties). Drop-off locations will be located near CDFW’s Alturas and Yreka offices, as well as a yet-to-be-determined location in the town of Chester.

For more information about recycling Christmas trees for fish habitat, please see our Science Spotlight article.

Wait.... don’t we just chuck them in the river?!

I was watching a show where they placed spruce boughs in water for herring spawns. I guess the piney taste gets into the roe and tastes good? Anyone ever try something like that?