Give your Christmas tree new life with Kentucky's 'Christmas for the Fishes' program

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Think twice before you set that live Christmas tree out by the curb for trash pickup this year.

That's because you can donate it to be used as a home for fish on the state's waterways. The Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife will take your tree as long as you remove all the lights and decorations.

It's part of the state's annual "Christmas for the Fishes" tree recycling program. The trees create underwater habitats that help fish thrive, according to a news release.

"Donated Christmas trees are put to work in local reservoirs as fish habitat, where they’re arranged in clusters that create dense branches and small pockets for young fish to hide," Spencer Phillips, a fisheries biologist with Kentucky Fish and Wildlife, said in a news release. "These structures also attract sportfish, offering opportunistic feeding as smaller fish venture out from cover."

Kentucky Fish and Wildlife will accept trees from Dec. 26 through Jan. 16, 2026, at 37 drop-off locations across the state.

Trees must be free of lights, garland and decorations. Limbs, wreaths, brush or other plants will not be accepted.

The donated trees will provide homes for fish for years, and help restore woody structures that have previously decayed in Kentucky lakes, providing protective cover and shade for a variety of fish species," according to the news release.

"Every tree counts," Phillips said. "Each tree can provide benefits for local fisheries for several years, gradually enhancing fish habitat that has been lost over time. Local anglers also benefit from the creation of reliable fishing hotspots around the sunken brush piles."

The area where the trees are anchored become places for fish to feed, shelter and spawn. They make great refuge and feeding habitat for game fish, and the locations where trees are installed can become hot spots for fish species targeted by fishermen, according to the release.

Those locations are recorded by Kentucky Fish and Wildlife staff, who then share GPS coordinates with anglers through the "Lakes with Fish Attractors" page on the department’s website and FishBoatKY app.

CLICK HERE to find a list of locations accepting Christmas trees.

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