By leaving old Christmas trees in your backyard they can continue to serve a useful purpose by helping wildlife.
So described the Nature Conservancy of Canada in a media release issued this holiday season.
“Evergreens offer a safe place for birds to rest while they visit your feeder,” national conservation science manager Samantha Knight said. “Another benefit is that if you leave the tree in your garden over the summer, it will continue to provide habitat for wildlife and improve your soil as it decomposes.”
They encourage Christmas tree owners to prop it against another tree, a fence or lay it in their garden. People can also redecorate it with pine cones filled with peanut butter, strings of peanuts and suet for birds.
“These delicious decorations will provide food for birds while they find shelter in the tree,” the release notes.
By the time spring hits and most of the needles are gone, they encourage people to cut the branches, lay them where spring flowers are starting to emerge and place the trunk on soil but not on top of the flowers. In this setting, it will hold moisture and help build the soil. Toads can seek shelter under the log, and insects will burrow into the wood.
“By fall, the branches and trunk will begin to decompose and turn into soil,” Knight said. “Many of our Christmas trees, particularly spruce and balsam fir, have very low rot resistance and break down quickly when exposed to the elements. The more contact the cut branches and trunk have with the ground, the quicker it will decompose. Drilling holes in the tree trunk will speed up that process.”
For more on the not-for-profit Nature Conservancy of Canada, which works toward private land conservation organization to protect natural areas and the species they sustain, click here.
