If you have a live evergreen Christmas tree, and wonder what you can do with it after all the presents have been opened and the decorations put up, the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission (AGFC) has an idea. And a plan for all those leftover trees: fish habitat.
The AGFC has established drop-off locations around the state for people to leave Christmas trees that will get a second life as underwater cover for fish. Jason Olive, AGFC assistant chief of fisheries, says the small spaces and dense cover offered by fresh Christmas trees make excellent habitat for small fish.
“In ponds where we’ve sunk Christmas trees, we’ve seen increased growth in smaller fish,” Olive said. “Young bass, crappie, bream, and baitfish all benefit from the cover, and larger gamefish will be attracted to the smaller fish.” Anglers are welcome to remove trees from drop-off locations to create their own fish attractors. Olive suggests using parachute cord and cinder blocks to weigh the trees down.
Sinking brush and trees to attract fish is hardly a secret as some anglers have used the practice to beef up cover and habitat in their private ponds for years. It’s especially important in man-made lakes and ponds that have had the trees and most of the cover removed when they were being constructed. Without this natural cover, smaller fish fall victim to predators at much higher rates and fish populations, including the larger predator fish that depend on the smaller fish for food, decline over time.
Within a few days of them being dropped into a lake or pond, algae begins to grow on the trees. The algae attracts aquatic insects, which are food for the smaller fish that make up the food chain. The concentration of small fish attracts larger fish, but the trees provide cover that protects them from predators and preserves their numbers. Many anglers also mark the location of the trees so they’ll know where to return to take advantage of the increased numbers of fish.
“Sink groups of Christmas trees together,” Olive said. “Within two to three years you won’t have much left except the trunks, but when we (AGFC) drained Lower White Oak Lake in Ouachita County recently, we saw several nice piles of Christmas tree trunks that were still good fish habitat after twelve years of being in the water.”
Before the trees are dropped off, they should be clean of all ornaments, lights and tinsel. Artificial Christmas trees cannot be used for fish habitat for obvious reasons. In Southwest Arkansas, the trees can be dropped off at the following locations:
• Magnolia - Columbia County Road Department Yard on Highway 371 South
• Camden - AGFC Regional Office on Ben Lane
• El Dorado - City recycling center drop-offs, one behind Arby’s and one on South Jackson