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ILLINOIS

PARKS & RECREATION

Tim Snodgrass, Editor Springfield, Illinois Theodore B. Flickinger, Managing Editor Executive Director, IAPD, Springfield, Illinois

National Advertising Representative Allan S. Young P.O. Box 4407 Arlington Heights, Illinois 60002 (708) 670-0264

Illinois Parks & Recreation

3

January/February 1992

A Note From The Editor

Best Uses for Old Christmas Trees

The Department of Conservation has several ideas about what you can do with old Christmas trees to help the state's fish and wildlife.

"Used Christmas trees can serve as fish attractors or as cover for wildlife," said Brent Manning, Director of the Department of Conservation. "Some of the Department of Conservation sites collect the used trees, as do some cities, park districts and forest preserve districts."

One of the main uses for old Christmas trees has been as fish attractors. Holes are drilled through the trunks and then the trees are connected by cable and anchored by concrete blocks. They then are placed in 8 to 10 feet of water. The Christmas trees serve as places where small fish can hide from larger predators. Larger fish gather around the trees in the area in hopes of an easy meal.

"If the trees are placed in water that is too deep, they wont attract the small fish," said Mike Conlin, head of the Division of Fisheries. "If they are placed in shallower water, they can wind up being a hazard to boaters and swimmers." Conlin said because Christmas tree attractors deteriorate fairly rapidly, their effectiveness is somewhat short-lived and they need to be replaced after a few years.

"Don't dump your used tree at a local lake just because you assume they will want a fish attractor. Many of the state's lakes have plenty of habitat and additional fish hiding locations could actually hurt the fishing," said Conlin.

Some recreation areas also accept used Christmas trees to create brush piles. The brush serves as cover for rabbits, quail, pheasant and many other small birds and mammals.

An ideal brush pile is about 6 feet high and 15 to 20 feet in diameter. If the brush pile is smaller than that, predators often times can get into them. If they are larger than what is recommended, they lose some of their effectiveness. It is best to make more than one brush pile because the amount of brush edge for wildlife to use will be increased"

In addition to collecting trees for fish attractors and brush piles, some park and forest preserve districts use old Christmas trees for other purposes. Some trees are put through a chipper and the chips are used to surface hiking trails, for example.

On The Cover What Is It? David Paul Blanchette of Springfield took this photograph of an owl at Jubilee College State Historic Site at the Annual Olde English Faire near Brimfield.