BOWLING GREEN, Ky. — A pile of Christmas trees is an annual sight at the Kentucky Fish and Wildlife office in Warren County for the past 20 years.

What You Need To Know

  •  The Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife is collecting Christmas trees to turn into fish habitats

  • The Warren County drop-off for trees is at Shawnty Hallow, Barren River Lake and Basil Griffith Park

  • There are over thirty drop-off sites around the state

Kayla Boles, a fisheries biologist with the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife, will see the barren Christmas trees stack up here until Jan. 15, when these trees will be transported to one of the nearby bodies of water. 

“These Christmas trees help attract fish in, so they have a better chance to catch fish when they are out there fishing,” Boles said. 

Though this is a state-wide program, Warren County drops off its trees at Shawnty Hallow, Barren River Lake and Basil Griffith Park. 

“To sink them in the lakes, we have a rope that will tie around them and then we’ll tie it to a cinder block, and then we’ll dump those in the lake, kind of in big groups,” Boles said. 

This year, the Christmas tree donations are looking pretty slim. They are expecting about 150 trees, where in previous years they’ve received around 350.  

“A lot of the time we get the majority of our trees from stores selling them. That’s where we get the majority of our trees a lot of the time,” Boles said.  

The National Christmas Tree Association says there has been a Christmas tree shortage since 2016. Boles says they will use what they get, but there is some prep work to do before leaving it at a drop-off site. 

She says you should take all the ornaments off and any other decorations on tree to ensure it is only the tree that’s left.

There are over thirty drop-off sites around the state. Find one near you here. 

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