The Nature Conservancy of Canada says you can spread year-round holiday cheer to backyard wildlife by putting your Christmas tree outside when you’re done with it.
The Conservancy says instead of bringing your local, native Christmas tree to the curb, consider putting it in your backyard.
National Conservation Science Manager for the NCC Samantha Knight, says, “Your tree can provide important habitat for bird populations during the winter months, especially on cold nights and during storms.”
Knight says, “Prop it up near another tree, against a fence or lay it in your garden. 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.”
She adds, “Evergreens offer a safe place for birds to rest while they visit your feeder.”
The NCC says by spring, the tree will have lost most of its needles. Then you can cut the branche and place them where spring flowers are starting to emerge in your garden. You can also place the trunk on soil, but not on top of the flowers.
Knight says the tree branches and trunk can provide habitat, shelter wildflowers, hold moisture and help build the soil, mimicking what happens with dead trees and branches in a forest. She says toads will seek shelter under the log, and insects, including pollinators such as carpenter bees, will burrow into the wood.
“By fall, the branches and trunk will begin to decompose and turn into soil,” says Knight. “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.
The NCC notes, 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 Christmas trees on shores to help prevent coastal erosion. Some pulp and paper companies collect and burn them for a fuel alternative to oil.
You can find more ideas about to help nature in your backyard in the Conservancy’s Small Acts of Conservation program.
The Nature Conservancy of Canada is a not-for-profit, private land conservation organization. Since 1962, NCC and its partners have helped to protect 14 million hectares (35 million acres), of land across the country.
