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.

Soil and gravel from the rapid erosion has been clogging the spawning grounds of the wild salmon and was impacting on the freshwater mussel. The mussel is nearly extinct.

An experiment by Dr Fran Igoe, who specialises in inland water species, along with the Kanturk Trout Angling Club found that pinning old Christmas trees to willow stakes not only slowed the erosion but created a new habitat.

“Basically the Christmas trees are pinned to the river banks where they protect exposed soil on river banks against the flood waters,” he said.

“As the river rises, the branches of the trees stick out, effectively slowing the water down along the edge of the river.

“As the water slows, suspended soil and organic material is actually deposited on the trees pinned to the river bank.

“This, in time, builds up and the river bank can then be planted with trees and bushes which help stabilise the bank and provide further protection against erosion.”

Dr Igoe is encouraging people to bring their used trees to IRD Duhallow at the James O’Keeffe Centre in Newmarket.

“But remember to clean the trees of decorations removing the tinsel and fairy lights and we can do the rest,” he added.