CORBIN, Ky. — With winter swiftly fading into spring, the last remnants of Christmas made their way to the bottom of a southeastern Kentucky lake on Thursday to serve as environmental support for the lake’s fish populations.

Natural Christmas trees are collected each year in the area following the holiday, weighed down and sunk to the bottom of Laurel River Lake near Corbin, Kentucky.  

According to Danny Parks, fisheries technician with the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife, the trees will “give the fish a place to hide, basically like nesting homes for them.”

Sgt. Stephen Lundy, who teaches in the local JROTC program, said the program was also beneficial for the Corbin JROTC students.

“Part of our curriculum is the environment,” he said, “so it works well…and we get collaboration between the two classes, JROTC and the science department… It’s great. It gets them out, teaches them teamwork, working out issues as a team. It’s a great thing to help with that.”

The program had about 35 students at the Christmas tree sink this year. Beth Christensen of the U.S. Forest Service stressed the benefit to all the programs involved.

“The benefit of the program is getting the Army Corps of Engineers, the U.S. Forest Service, the (Kentucky) Department of Fish and Wildlife all working together with the Corbin JROTC and getting the kids out,” she said. “Some of these kids just don’t spend time outside, so this gets kids outside, provides fish habitat to the lake, the structural complexity that will benefit the fish.”

In addition to helping protect the fish and organisms of the lakes they come to rest in, the trees also find a second life as sources of food and organic material as they decompose. Similar Christmas tree sinking initiatives across the country allow environmentalists, students, nature officials and even fishermen to do their part to sustain the nation’s lakes.

Abroad, Christmas trees are also recycled in similar efforts to prevent waterway flooding and overflow.

According to Christensen, the collection of sunken trees in Corbin provides a food source for the fish as well as hiding and cover for the fish while providing a way for area residents to truly recycle their natural Christmas trees, making it beneficial for all involved.

“These kids really work hard, and I think they look forward to getting to do this every year,” Christensen said. “It’s a really nice chance to get everybody together and do something to benefit the fish species of Laurel River Lake.”

Bentley writes for the Corbin, Kentucky Times Tribune.