The City of Great Falls and Walleyes Unlimited are encouraging residents to recycle their Christmas trees to support fish habitat at Tiber Reservoir through the Pines For Perch project.
"We're asking the community of Great Falls to recycle any live Christmas tree. And if you take your bulbs. Everything off the Christmas tree. There's a couple locations in Great Falls that will. They have Connexs out there, and you can drop them off them locations," said Michael Croscutt, a member of Walleyes Unlimited.
The recycled trees provide crucial habitat for perch to lay their eggs at Tiber Reservoir.
"We have a shortage of habitat at the lakes up there and with more of an abundance of Christmas trees. This helps, helps the fish population," Croscutt said.
"What we do is we transport them trees up there and sink them to the bottom in certain depth, between 12 and 18 feet. And then the perch will come and lay scales of eggs on it, and helps to fill the gives them a habitat for them to do that with," Croscutt said.
Great Falls residents are encouraged to recycle their live Christmas trees between December 26, 2025, and January 9, 2026, at the following locations:
- Meadowlark Park – at Fox Farm and Park Garden Road
- American Little League (parking lot) – 1100 38th Street North
Before recycling your tree, please remove all lights, decorations, and tree stands. Note that flocked trees cannot be recycled and should not be taken to the recycling sites.
Only live Christmas trees should be deposited in the containers.
