Updated: 2/19/2008 11:27:38 PM
Some East Tennessee Christmas trees keep on giving.
They're becoming habitats for tiny fish on the reservoirs of the state.
"We collect trees the entire month of January, and we come back and start installing the units in February and March," said Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency fisheries technician Russell Young.
Volunteers helped TWRA workers stack Christmas trees on boats Tuesday morning at Melton Hill Lake.
The carefully balanced boats slowly moved through the weather as the people on board searched for spots marked on a map.
Then they tied the trees to concrete blocks and pushed them overboard.
"They'll provide habitat for the fry of the year to hide in until they get big enough to go off on their own," said volunteer Carl Guffey, who is also Conservation Director for the Tennessee Bass Federation.
Fry are baby fish.
The trees give the fry a place to hide from bigger fish. The trees also provide nutrients for algae the fry eat.
"It provides more fish in the future," said Guffey. "The more fry that survive for the year,the better the fishing will be a couple years down the road."
The reservoirs are aging,and the natural material on the bottom is degrading. Waves also promote erosion. The Christmas tree habitat project helps. Without it, TWRA says the reservoirs would suffer.
"Eventually, there would be no structure at all, nd the fish would have nowhere to hide," said Young.
The labor-intensive work would be impossible without volunteers, said Young. And those volunteering wish more people would lend a hand.
"The more volunteers we can get out here, the quicker we can get it done and the more we can do for our fisheries," said Guffey.
Anybody can volunteer, but TWRA gets a lot of interest from fishermen, who understand the benefit of providing habitat for tiny fish. They also see firsthand where the Christmas tree habitats are placed.
"It concentrates fish in larger numbers, which in turn increases their likelihood of a successful trip," said Young.
Girl Scouts also helped out, and some retired men helped load Christmas trees in the interest of keeping the lake healthy for their grandchildren.
Guffey just wishes TWRA and the volunteers could do more.
"If we could have ten of these boats and thousands of trees, we could really make a huge difference," he said. "Unfortunately, we don't have the funding to buy everything we need to get it done. So we're doing the best we can with what we've got to work with."
To volunteer, call 423-587-7037 ext. 250 or click here for volunteer information.
