Published February 6, 2020
Tree Sinking for the Win
Heads up! This article was published 4 years ago.
The Christmas tree collection at Eastwood MetroPark has ended, and the evergreens are ready for their next life at the bottoms of various lakes. Sunk trees can create rich aquatic habitats that, among other things, provide places for fish to lay eggs that hatch into baitfish, which then become food for larger fish.
These kinds of programs are invaluable to the environment, says Five Rivers Biologist Grace Dietsch. “When improvements are made to a particular ecosystem, the benefits are exponential and immeasurable, branching through classifications from plankton to birds to people,” she says.
Last year, Five Rivers MetroParks sank trees in Eastwood Lake. This year, it’s collecting them at the request of the Ohio Department of Natural Resources Division of Wildlife, which will distribute them throughout southwest Ohio. In 2019, the Eastwood program won a first place Ohio Parks and Recreation Association award, in the Natural Resources and Conservation category.
