Put Those Christmas Trees to Good Use

Instead of letting your Christmas tree take up space in a landfill this year, state natural resources officials suggest giving it a second life by putting it to good use for fish or wildlife.
In rural areas, discarded Christmas trees can be put to good use as erosion control or as brush piles to provide resting and escape cover for small animals. In addition to benefiting small game such as quail and rabbits, brush piles constructed of Christmas trees can help birds such as sparrows, towhees and wrens. Tammy Wactor, wildlife biologist with the DNR based in Clemson says it is the time of the year when leaves have dropped and the landscape is more open. Cover is a vital part of a healthy wildlife habitat. Wactor says brush piles are usually mount or teepee shaped  with the largest material forming the base and layers of small limbs and branches added as filler. The base should consist of sturdy trunks or limbs to allow adequate escape entrances at ground level.

Fisheries biologists with the DNR Freshwater Fisheries Section use discarded Christmas trees to maintain many fish attractor sites, which are clearly marked by buoys, at all major reservoirs in South Carolina. Once on the lake bottom, Christmas trees and other suitable materials provide a surface where aquatic insects live and grow. These insects in turn attract small fish that are fed upon by larger fish. Please do not toss discarded trees on state fish attraction areas. Some DNR regions collect the trees from municipalities, so that they may “pick and choose” the best trees for their needs, rather than have the public deliver them to a DNR facility. Deliver the tree to designated areas, and state natural resources personnel will replenish sites as needed.