(Photo: The Nature Conservancy of Canada)

By Shane Clausing

Spreading year-round cheer to wildlife in your backyard

Jan 2, 2022 | 10:43 AM

LETHBRIDGE, AB – The Nature Conservancy of Canada is suggesting residents to not leave their used Christmas trees at the curb for pickup, but rather to put them in their own backyard.

National conservation science manager Samantha Knight says leaving your real tree in your yard over the winter can offer many benefits for backyard wildlife. The NCC notes that your tree can provide habitat for bird populations during the winter season, especially on colder nights and during storms.

The NCC suggests propping up your Christmas tree near another tree in your yard, against a fence or lay it in your garden. In a release, the NCC said, “you can even get the family involved by redecorating it with pinecones filled with peanut butter, strings of peanuts and suet for birds to enjoy.”

“These delicious decorations will provide food for birds while they find shelter in the tree.”

Knight said, “Evergreens offer a safe place for birds to rest while they visit your feeder.”

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“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.”

By the springtime, the tree will have lost most of its needles. The NCC suggests cutting the tree branches, laying them where spring flowers are beginning to emerge and place the trunk of the tree on soil, but not on top of flowers.

Knight says the tree branches and trunk can provide habitat, shelter wildflowers, hold moisture and help build the soil, mimicking what occurs with dead trees and branches in a forest. Toads will seek shelter under the log and insects, like pollinators such as carpenter bees, will burrow into the wood.

Knight commented that, “by fall, the branches and trunk will begin to decompose and turn into soil.”

“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.”

Additionally, the NCC notes that there are other uses for Christmas trees. Several municipalities have drop-off sites where trees are chipped up and composted or used as trail bedding. Some communities place the trees on shores to help prevent coastal erosion. Some pulp and paper companies collect and burn them for a fuel alternative to oil.