Your recycled live Christmas tree can provide a safe haven for wildlife. The Ohio Department of Natural Resources suggested using your old tree to help create a welcoming brush pile for wildlife.
Clip off the limbs and stack them in a square arrangement, layering the pile and adding additional brush as needed. Birds use the brush for good, nesting and hiding. Other small animals use brush piles to raise babies and shelter in bad weather. It’s also a great spot for beneficial insects to hide out.
Live-cut Christmas trees are also useful for making compost and mulch.
Over in Lawrence County, the Wayne National Forest accepts donations of trees that are sunk into water and used to provide homes for baitfish. As the trees decompose, they help feed plankton, which feeds smaller water creatures who, in turn, attract larger fish.
It’s a great way for pond owners to repurpose their trees as well. An interactive lake map showing where trees are placed as fish attractors is available at wildohio.gov and on the HuntFish OH mobile app.
Remember to remove all decorations, lights, tinsel, or anything that isn’t part of nature from your tree. And remember, you can’t just dump your tree anywhere. That’s called littering.
