Old Christmas trees provide habitat for fish, wildlife

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. -- For 18 years, Springfield-based Bass Pro Shops has been collecting used Christmas trees to use as habitat for fish and wildlife.

These days, tree recycling has become a gesture of goodwill for the environment and the community. The National Christmas Tree Association says 93 percent of all consumers recycle their tree in a local program or in their garden.

That has caused the number of pines dropped off at Bass Pro's collection sites to drop, company spokesman Larry Whiteley said.

Still, he said Bass Pro expects to collect between 4,000 and 5,000 trees this year, which will be used by the Missouri Department of Conservation and the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers.

Many of the trees are hauled to Table Rock Lake and sunk at sites designated by the Corp of Engineers.

Bill Anderson, a fisheries biologist with the Missouri Department of Conservation, said the trees provide cover for fish and let anglers know where to find them. Even property owners with ponds or lakes can benefit from recycling the trees.

"If you have a good-sized farm pond and it has no cover and you sink Christmas trees bundled together, fish will use it," Anderson said.

Bass Pro Shops also takes trees to the Bois D'Arc Conservation Area northwest of Springfield, where the Department of Conservation uses them to create a natural habitat for rabbits, quail and other birds.

"It's a great program," Whiteley said. "It's win-win-win. It keeps trees out of landfills. The fishermen win. The fish win. Everybody wins."

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Information from: Springfield News-Leader, http://www.springfieldnews-leader.com

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