RBG has an in-tree-guing scheme for your old Christmas evergreen
Local residents taking down their Christmas decorations can give trees a new home that’s far from the curb.
Royal Botanical Gardens is looking for just over 3,000 evergreen trees to help maintain a berm across Grindstone Creek designed to keep carp from travelling into the marsh.
Trees are the ideal candidate for the barrier because they’re light, so they won’t sink into the marsh, said Tys Theysmeyer, head of natural areas at the RBG.
“They’re also a top choice because they’re free-ish and you can get them in large numbers,” he said. “And of course, most importantly, they’re a natural thing.”
Carp are destructive to marshes because they stir up the bottom and cloud the waters, making it difficult for plant life to grow and a healthy food chain to be created.
The Christmas tree barrier stops spawning carp from passing through, but smaller species can still make it by.
The trees are also used to build up banks of the creek in Grindstone Marsh.
Over time, the Christmas trees naturally decompose, leaving a buildup of sediment and reeds as a riverbank.
“We’re just working with something that would have been there in lower numbers naturally,” Theysmeyer said.
This is the 19th year the Royal Botanical Gardens is collecting Christmas trees as part of this wetland restoration project.
So far, it has collected around 1,000 and is receiving more daily, mostly from retailers clearing out their stock after Christmas, Theysmeyer said.
Anyone looking to donate a tree can do so — once they remove the decorations — at a drop-off point by the marsh near the RBG Centre, 680 Plains Rd. W., in Burlington.
There is a sign directing donors down the road to where the trees can be piled up.
Trees can also be dropped off at Princess Point, 335 Longwood Rd. N., or Valley Inn, on Spring Gardens Road on the way to Laking Garden
Trees can be donated any time before Jan. 12.