Think live Christmas trees have finished serving their purpose after the holiday’s passed? Not so fast. Some trees get “repurposed” thanks to Washington County Conservation.

Executive Director Zach Rozmus says they’re turning some live Christmas trees into structural habitat for aquatic wildlife, “We will pick properties that we manage here in Washington County and if there are areas that we know need additional structure within the ponds we can use that (the trees). The winter season is perfect for that because essentially all we need to do is once the ponds freeze over, we pick locations throughout the ponds we can walk the trees actually out there and then once the thaw does come it allows the trees to sink to the bottom and they can last several years as good structure for the ponds.”

Rozmus says the Christmas trees they repurpose come from an informal partnership with local stores in Washington County who have a surplus of trees after the holiday season.