The San Jacinto River Authority (SJRA) has been reviving dead Christmas trees for the past few years by converting them into man-made habitats for Lake Conroe’s fauna.
Five years ago, a number of state and local organizations, including Texas Parks and Wildlife, the Seven Coves Bass Club, the Lake Conroe Association, and SJRA, collaborated to launch the program, which involves lowering used trees into the lake bottom north of Houston. According to Bret Raley, SJAR’s Lake Conroe division manager, the program has grown in popularity and provided a platform for public education.
“The first year I think we may have gotten 100 trees, maybe not even 100 the first year,” he stated. We’ll have more than 500 this year, I’m very sure. “This is why we’re doing this, not just, ‘Hey, here’s a place you can go put your Christmas tree.'”
According to Raley, the trees at the bottom of the lake bed gradually blend in with the environment of the lake, where they frequently provide as habitat for a wide variety of creatures.
“We group trees together into groups of five to 10 trees; we’ll drill holes in the trunks of them, connect them all together, weigh them down and go put them in certain key locations,” he explained. “As time passes, their productivity increases…. It’s an ecosystem that grows on itself. Little fish can hide in these unique interstitial areas.
Replacing habitats lost to invasive species is one objective of artificial habitats. According to Raley, the habitats are utilized in addition to other strategies to protect or advance native species.
“One of the problems that we have in managing the lake is invasive plants,” he stated. Aquatic herbicides and grass carp, a biological control, are two of the methods we employ to manage some of those plants. The goal of both of those is to try to make up for any losses you might have made while treating the invasives.
SJRA has previously experimented with different materials to create artificial habitats, but according to Raley, using discarded Christmas trees has benefited everyone.
“The Christmas trees ended up being a benefit for the community as well,” he stated. “People have a place, at least. Where they dispose of it is not a concern for them. We make good use of it and keep it out of the garbage. Those other methods have sort of been replaced by Christmas trees.
As long as the trees aren’t artificial, Raley added, there are no special conditions for donating them.
In January, SJRA will start gathering trees. You may see a complete list of drop-off sites on SJRA’s social media accounts.
