By Dan Buckler, DNR Urban Forest Assessment Specialist
Daniel.Buckler@wisconsin.gov or 608-445-4578

To say that working on a Christmas tree farm in high school led me into forestry would be a case of significant historical revisionism. Still, that experience swam in the same waters as reading Lord of the Rings, going on family vacations to the mountains, having a nearby municipal forest and other things that showed me that trees were the way.

Since then, I have increasingly appreciated holiday trees and other green things brought into households, not (just) in the harbinger-of-gifts way, but as reminders of life against a cold, seemingly bleak background. “Things will get better,” these green things announce. “Just wait!”

What I don’t always love, however, is the practice of throwing trees out after the holidays. Sure, I think the ecological, social and economic scorecard is squarely in the favor of real trees (though the real/artificial debate is somewhat tangential in a time of overwhelming consumerism), but dragging the tree to the street doesn’t always sit right with me.

Don’t get me wrong — there are many legitimate reasons to throw your tree out over the holidays, and many communities have excellent programs to convert those trees into things like mulch or fish habitat. But if you have some space, some time and perhaps a little DIY spirit, use that tree for something else.

I conducted a survey a few years ago asking readers how they used their trees after the holidays, and there were many excellent ideas. Half of the respondents used their trees to create wildlife habitat, a third used them to make compost or mulch and others used them for firewood. There are even people who feed the trees to goats. I’d like to taste that chevre!

As for me? We’ve lived in our house on a small urban lot for six years and have never thrown a tree out. Branches of those trees have become mulch, and trunks have become chicken roosting bars or crafted into tree cookies or poorly “milled” boards. And no joke, the last three years, we’ve propped the tree up in the backyard in early January, where it then remained green for months! It’s a wonderful splash of color in an otherwise drab wintry backyard.