Old Christmas trees sought for Fresno fish habitats

The Fresno Chapter of Walleyes Unlimited, in partnership with the City of Havre and Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks, is collecting Christmas trees to be used for creating fish habitats in Fresno Reservoir.

The trees will be distributed at various locations around Fresno Reservoir with the goal of enhancing fishing.

People wishing to donate their trees can take them to a labeled dumpster at Memorial Park near the Sixth Avenue Softball Complex over the next two weeks.

Walleyes Unlimited Fresno Chapter Club President Nate Molestad said the program started in 2016, and they've been doing it every year since then, so a lot of people already know about it, but it's always good to let newcomers to the community know.

Molestad said the city was kind enough to help with collection by letting them use their container for the project and FWP gives the group recommendations on the best places to put the trees, while the Fresno Chapter provides most of the manpower to do it.

He said the trees provide habitat for all kinds of bait fish in the reservoir but it's especially important to the perch, which lay their eggs in brush to hide them from potential predators.

He said by creating this habitat they are helping develop a larger and healthier population of bait fish for the walleye population to eat, boosting their population and making a better place for fishing.

Molestad said the group collects trees from Havre, Chinook and Big Sandy as well as some from Great Falls and they've already gotten a big donation of 125 trees from Havre's Walmart, so he's feeling good about this time around.

"It's going to be a good year," he said.

He said they typically get between 100 to 150 most years so they're already off to a fantastic start.

Molestad said they don't have a drop-off site in Big Sandy or Chinook so if people are able it would be great if they could drop them off in Havre, but he realizes that's a bit of an unrealistic ask. Fortunately, he said, they have other collection methods.

He said club members periodically check in on dump sites in other communities and the trees are often put to the side until they have a chance to go get them.

In the new year, typically in February if the weather allows, he said, they will go out to the reservoir to put the trees either on the ice or the shoreline, depending on the recommendations of FWP's biologists, who track the fish population in the reservoir.

"Anything we can add is a huge bonus," Molestad said.

He thanked the people donating trees, the city for its collection assistance and FWP for their expertise.