ECOfreak: Christmas Tree Fish Condos

By Desiree Parker Tuesday, January 24, 2012

I thought it was neat that old Christmas trees around here get mulched – great recycling, right? Well, I got a chance to see an even cooler way to recycle these trees about a week ago at Williamsburg’s Waller Mill Park. Lots of them become fish habitats!

I I got a chance to meet with Scott Herrmann of the Virginia Department Game and Inland Fisheries at Waller Mill as he got ready to sink about 75 used Christmas trees from the homes of Williamsburg residents.

Tress are like little fish condos, he pointed out, and are great places for young fish to hide. At Waller Mill Park, the population of bluegills has been low; this species and other predators like to eat the little fish that hide around the trees, so it ends up being a bustling fish hangout.

This is not just a boon to the fish, but also to fisherman in the area, too.

I thought this was such a unique idea, but Herrmann said the DGIF have been sinking trees as habitats all around the state for quite a while. A quick Google found this story from Treehugger about Christmas trees all over the country that are used as marine habitats.

Herrmann tied cinderblocks to the ends of the trees and put them in a few ideal locations around the reservoir (see photo on the right); one tree group is right under the pier.

I love the idea that old trees can get reused like this; it reminds me of the New York City subway cars that get turned into reefs (though I wonder about the toxicity of dumping these in the water).

These ideas make me realize that people are really thinking about what ways waste can be reused, instead of just tossed on the trash heap. This is the kind of thinking that I know will help us out in the long run.

Website for the week

A reader suggested I check out the site Craftgawker.com -- there are lots of neat do-it-yourself craft projects on here, in case you feel the urge to try to reuse something old and make it something new.