By Karen Gotter
When it comes to Christmas trees, if you have finally answered the age-old question, “Real or artificial?” and find yourself with a natural spruce, fir, pine or cedar after the holidays, you’ll find yourself with a second question: “Now what?”
Ignore the reminders from your trash collection company about the pickup times and dates for trees and give it a second life instead.
This year, I have been hit with the “I can make that!” mindset whenever I see posts online about a new craft, or when I’m hit with sticker shock about the price of décor from my favorite stores. A Christmas tree that’s already begun to dry out is a great starting point for a few new fun ideas, as well as some oldie-but-goodies.
Removing the branches and focusing on the tree trunk opens up many possibilities. Not only can I use those new hand tools (saw and loppers) I got for Christmas, but the larger diameter base can get cut into tree cookies. Larger ones become centerpiece items, small ones are perfect for making new ornaments, coasters or other rustic decorations (answering another question about what to do for next year’s gifts!)
The three- to four-inch diameter middle trunk can be cut into small chunks and hollowed out for candle holders or flower planters, or left longer and integrated into the flower beds as “yard art” or insect hotels.
The skinnier parts of the trunk at the top can be carefully trimmed around the branches to make wall hooks for a coat rack.
Look up “DIY tree branch coat racks” online and find some cute and creative options.
Those cut-off branches can act as cover to perennial plants to insulate against frigid winter temps, chipped or mulched to make a nice acidic soil amendment (great for blueberries and hydrangeas) or just additions to the backyard brush pile.
My brush pile serves in many ways. It hosts everything from nightcrawlers to opossums, acts as a source of sticks for garden and crafting projects and winds up as fodder for summer campfires.
If you’d like to be more intentional for wildlife, there are simple ways to benefit lots of species. In your yard, homemade bird feeders using natural materials can be hung from the branches, which simultaneously offers cover to the overwintering songbirds as they forage. It also allows the joy of decorating the tree to linger longer into the winter.
Similarly, just leaving the tree along the edge of the yard/tree line creates edge “roughness” which is more appealing for wildlife travel than the stark border from an open area straight into tall trees.
Sinking the trees in ponds creates shelter for small fish from predators. Just try not to use dyed trees in water projects. Stream restoration projects use evergreens to stabilize banks, as stream revetments, or integrated with log cribbing to create aquatic habitat.
Because wood floats, these types of projects need to include anchoring — cement blocks work well to sink them in a pond, but stream restoration projects need strong cables and anchors or plans to use heavy logs and stone to weigh the trees down. And frequently, they need a LOT of trees to make the project worthwhile.
Finding a larger scale community project, like building wildlife brush piles on park property or a stream restoration project, is a great way to repurpose your tree if you don’t have the space to keep it at home.
These projects are wonderful ways for organizations such as our soil and water conservation districts to teach about backyard conservation opportunities, and to connect with new people from the community.
Holmes SWCD has been coordinating tree recycling for the past five years. In that time, hundreds of trees have been put to good use. Cub Scout and Boy Scout troops have helped build dozens of wildlife brush piles where they get out and play in the snow, burn off some of their winter-break energy and get to visit their projects from last year for signs of which critters have been passing through.
One stream restoration project took another batch, and we’ve got our eyes on a lake project for this year with some crafting projects thrown in for good measure.
Keep an eye out for Christmas tree collection programs in your area over the next few weeks or get your DIY cap on — and keep the enthusiasm for conservation “evergreen” in the new year!
(Karen Gotter is Killbuck Creek Watershed Coordinator with the Holmes Soil and Water Conservation District.)
