3:06pm: Hotline with Dave Weekley

New life for old Christmas trees

CHARLESTON, W.Va. — There are few sadder moments during the year than the dismantling of the Christmas decorations. It’s always a let down after a huge holiday buildup to collect all of the trimmings and other decorations and put them away for the year.

The Christmas tree which brought so much joy as the centerpiece of the Christmas celebration less than a week ago, now looks rather pitiful. Void of the tinsel, lights, and colorful ornaments, it’s now an eyesore shedding needles on the carpet. It seems rather harsh to drag it to the curb and watch the trash man toss it into the packer truck. Therefore, don’t let that happen. Your tree can have a second life and bring joy to your family again when the weather warms.

“Saturday January 2nd, we’ll be collecting those trees from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Capital Market in Charleston. ” said Brett Preston, Chief of Warmwater Fisheries for the West Virginia Division of Natural Resources. “We invite folks to bring down their tree.”

Each year , the DNR and West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection collect the Christmas trees to be sunk in various lakes around the state to serve as fish attracting structures. Each fish attractor is marked and serves as great cover for all species of game fish.

“As any angler knows, structure, both horizontal and vertical, is important for fish. That’s one of the things the Christmas trees provide,” said Preston. “They’re great while you’re fishing and they’re great cover for small fish and as a nursery area for small fish.”

This year, all trees collected will be deposited into four lakes in West Virginia, Burnsville Lake, Stonecoal Lake, Tygart Lake, and Big Ditch Lake, a small impoundment in the northern part of West Virginia. Each of the fish attractors is well marked so anglers will be able to find it. The Christmas tree piles tend to last two or three years before they need to be replenished.

“We try to pick different ones each year, some of it depends on the number of trees we get,” said Preston. “A couple or three years is about the life expectancy of these structures. They will last for a little while, but as the lakes are drawn down they get exposed to air and they start to break down rather quickly. That’s why we have to keep going back every two or three years to replace those structures.”

The added bonus, which the DEP likes, is it keeps the material out of the landfills of West Virginia. It gives new life to the old trees which brought a lot of enjoyment through the holidays and will now bring enjoyment to fishing for several springs and summers to come.





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