Fabulous! Glad you posted this Jane (I missed the story on NPR) ... particularly love the dune restoration. And don't forget you can also put your trees at the edge of a woodland or the back of a perennial bed for the winter, where they will create shelter and habitat, a little cover from the bitter wind, for our avian friends. Just saw a flock (bevy? whatever the proper term is) of mourning doves hunkered down amongst the branches of a downed oak tree down by my brook...nestled into the nooks of the branches, heads tucked under wings against the wind -- I'd been wondering where they spend the nights -- after camping out near/in/on my feeders all day! -- and now I know ;)

Have any of you CT gardeners seen any Arctic snowy owls yet? Word on the street from Audubon CT is that we have a record influx of them this year ("they're everywhere!") -- not enough voles in the northern Canadian provinces, it seems. Plenty in my yard, so I would like to formally extend an invitation to any snowy owls out there to "come on down!" The buffet is open 24/7.

ctlady - the link didn't work for me but those Arctic snowy owls are welcome to shop & take home/consume as many voles as they want here in the north central region of CT. My feeders have sustained a dozen or more bird species so far this winter already and I'll be filling the feeders again tomorrow to see what others are drawn to take nourishment in my front yard.

Judging by their flight patterns, after visiting the feeders, the juncos, chickadees, cardinals, titmice, woodpeckers & mourning doves shelter in the huge spruce trees along my southern boundary.

Great article, Jane. We fluctuate between throwing our tree back in the woods, and putting it curbside. Our town does have a municipal compost pile, to which they add the trees they pick up, so the tree does end up recycling into something useful, but some years we do put it in the woods for the critters. There were some interesting uses for the trees in that article.

I tend to cringe when I see trees by the side of the road in plastic bags! Ugh. I can only hope that the bags are removed and the trees composted, but who knows? Laziness on the parts of several parties probably just leads to the tree being tossed in the garbage.

No snowy owls seen here, so far. I'd love to see one, as well as loving the idea that my vole population would be reduced if an owl took up residence.

Dee

I saw that article linked to the NPR facebook page, and I was a little disturbed by it. We have a fairly big problem with Christmas trees here on the cape, because people drop them along the edge of the beach, apparently thinking they're doing something environmentally sound. Or, maybe they do it because it's easier than disposing of them some other way; that would explain why so many of these trees appear in the wee hours!

I can trace this phenomenon back to a legitimate, organized dune restoration project that took place many years ago.

Anyway, trees randomly left along the barrier beach either wash out to sea, where they become hazards to small boats, or they blow into the marsh, where they wreak havoc with the delicate ecosystem there.

My tree will sit in a corner of my back yard until spring, and then it will go into the fire pit, on a not-quite-warm-enough evening, to eke out an extra hour for a back yard dinner party. To me, that marks the real end of winter every year.

Ah, DTD, that's very interesting. I guess folks saw the dune restoration project and now just think that throwing their trees on the beach is a good thing! Funny how people think. Good intentions and all, huh?

Although, with the Cape being obviously a beach area, and if this is a problem there, you'd think communities would post some kind of signs in season or have some kind of public alerts or information campaign to prevent folks from doing this.

Dee

dtd - I don't live in a beach area and have no history with tree disposal aiding dune build up. Of course, there is often a plus and minus to any situation, but I am curious to know if you recall whether the organized effort to use Christmas trees to build up the dunes on the Cape actually worked? There comes a time when enough is enough, but was it effective at any time?
Thanks, Jane

I saw recent coverage on the news of some new technique of planting grass plugs, but I didn't think that was new. The Christmas Trees I haven't heard of before. It's nice to know there are so many people out there trying to come up with a way to preserve the beaches, though.