Donated Christmas trees become ‘home’ for fish across Kentucky

GRANT COUNTY, Ky. (WXIX) - Kentucky Fish and Wildlife’s Christmas for the Fishes just wrapped up its ninth season. It’s a program in which crews take donated Christmas trees and drop them in lakes around Kentucky to restore fish habitat.

David Baker, a program coordinator for Kentucky Fish and Wildlife, says about 5,000 trees were donated this season alone. About 1,700 of those trees were dropped in Boltz Lake in Grant County.

He says Kentucky lakes are man-made, which means fish habitat must be restored routinely.

“These lakes are just old,” said Baker. “A lot of these lakes were built in the late ‘50s and early ‘60s, so a lot of the habitat breaks down over time, and as it goes away, they [the fish] lose their habitat that they like to live around, and we are putting it back.”

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Which lakes get the Christmas trees is on a rotating schedule. Each one gets a fresh drop about every five to six years.

Spencer Phillips, a fish habitat biologist for Kentucky Fish and Wildlife, says this keeps the habitat healthy, and the fish can really thrive.

“Adding these trees replaces what has been lost over time and essentially creates nice, safe spaces for these fish to go to, like the smaller, big fish that help attract the later sport fish as well,” Phillips said.

Keeping up that habitat helps keep fish stocked and healthy in the lake. Baker says that’s a win for the anglers, too.

“It creates hot spots. We put all of these on a map, and they come out here and load it up to their finders,” Baker said. “They come and set on them. They catch a lot of croppie, blue gill, and bass off them, so it’s good for the habitat, good for the lake, but it’s also good for our anglers because it makes them happy anglers when their catch rates go up.”

You can download maps and files of the fishing hot spots from the Kentucky Fish and Wildlife Department’s website.

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