As the holiday season comes to an end, you may be wondering what now to do with your Christmas tree. Many people throw their live Christmas trees away to be taken to the landfill; however, it is better to recycle them.
The Walleyes Unlimited Great Falls chapter, in partnership with Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks, reuse them for fish habitat.
Gordon “Robbi” Robinson with Walleyes Unlimited explained, “We need forage in there, and we need places for fish to have to spawn, and we need places for fish to be able to hide, you know. We just had a meeting last night with the biologists and our fisheries are not too good because of all the low water we’ve had, so this helps. It's a little drop in the bucket but it does help.”
“Consider the whole life cycle of the tree. After the holidays, there's several good programs in Great Falls and nearby communities that will recycle the tree and turn it into fish habitat, feed goats, or use it for composting,” said Chiara Cipriano, spokesperson for the Lewis & Clark National Forest.
If you are unable to drop off your tree to be recycled, there are also ways to upcycle it at home, such as creating aromatic bundles, reusing for firewood, or in your garden as habitat for pollinators.
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“It’s just an opportunity to really maximize the life of that tree and also just kind of consider our own relationship with the environment, our interdependence,” said Cipriano.
Robinson added, “If you take your trees, no tinsel, no garland, no flocking, just plain trees after you take them down.”
Christmas trees can be dropped off between December 26th and January 9th.
The two drop off locations in Great Falls are Meadowlark Park (Fox Farm and Park Garden Road) and the American Little League parking lot (1100 39th Street North).
