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How to recycle your Christmas tree while helping salmon

The North Clackamas Watershed Council will collect the trees on Jan. 7. The trees will be used to attract insects for food and help salmon hide from predators.

PORTLAND, Ore. — Now that Christmas is over, a lot of people are wondering what to do with their Christmas trees. The North Clackamas Watershed Council, which works to restore streams, will collect Christmas trees that will help salmon populations.

Much of the streams in the area do not have enough wood in them for the salmon, according to the watershed council's executive director, Neil Schulman. Salmon need wood in order to hide from predators. 

"Our creeks used to have a lot of wood in them," Schulman said. "Over the decades or centuries since, lots of people started living here and building cities and houses. We have simplified our streams too much."

The needles on trees also attract insects, which are a food source for the salmon.

Schulman said that wood in the creek is especially important for young salmon. The stronger the salmon are when they go out to the ocean, the better they will survive. 

The watershed council will collect trees from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Jan. 7 at North Clackamas Park. Volunteers will take the trees to the Willamette River and tie them to logs near Elk Rock Island.

Schulman asks that people do not donate trees with plastic, decorations or frosted trees that could harm the fish. There's a $5 donation fee that goes towards the watershed council. 

The North Clackamas Watershed Council is one of just a few organizations collecting trees. Metro, Topaz Farm and Portland Legacy Lions Club are also offering Christmas tree recycling services.

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