Christmas trees wanted to protect rare species

A scientist and an angling club are planning to put dumped Christmas trees — without the tinsel and decorations — to good use in the Cork-Kerry border region.

The trees will be harnessed to protect salmon spawning ground as well as the ancient but threatened pearl mussel, one of the longest-living species on this island.

While most Christmas trees go in the shredder, an appeal has gone out across the Duhallow region for used trees to help shore up the banks of the upper Blackwater, an important area of conservation that has been rapidly eroding.