Christmas trees play role in Colyer Lake’s rebirth

In the past, discarded Christmas trees have been gathered up and recycled into wood chips at the State College Borough Composting Facility.

But for a short time, Centre Region residents have the opportunity to turn that tree into something they probably never imagined — a home for a fish.

Thanks to the Council of Governments’ regional refuse and recycling program, trees left out for collection by customers in Benner, College, Ferguson, Harris and Patton townships will be taken to Colyer Lake and used to create fish habitat structures. Work has already begun at the lake to form the habitats.

Colyer Lake, in Potter Township, was drained in late 2014 due to a structurally deficient dam. According to a December news release by the Wildlife For Everyone Endowment Foundation, refurbishment of the dam was recently completed thanks to “passionate local residents, successful fundraising and dedicated construction crews.”

Program administrator Pam Adams said she was approached by the state Fish and Boat Commission, which was aware of the tree recycling program. She was asked if the trees could be taken straight to the lake instead of being sent to the composting facility.

Advanced Disposal, which is contracted by COG for trash removal, provided additional trucks to carry the trees separately from the trash, she said. They are then taken straight to Colyer Lake where the commission takes over.

“It’s a pretty interesting process,” she said. “They’ve removed all the tires that were in there for better fish habitats.”

Adams said the program donated Christmas trees about five years ago to state game lands for the creation of animal habitats.

Commission biologist Jason Detar said now is the right time to put a large-scale habitat in the lake, while it’s only partially full. The commission tried to contact refuse and recycling last year to recycle trees, but contacted them too late.

“This year we saw an opportunity to get some more trees and use them as the final step in the habitat improvement project,” he said, “before the lake gets fully refilled in the spring.”

The habitats created by the trees, which will join other habitats formed from rock and concrete materials from the old dam, are being put in the lake specifically to improve the habitat of game fish like largemouth bass, bluegills and yellow perch, he said.

Some trees will be cabled to posts that have already been set up on the lake bed to create a habitat. Trees can also be bundled and weighted down as another habitat form, he said.

The refilling process should be completed by spring, he said. The lake is managed as a warm-water fishery and the same species that once inhabited the lake will be reintroduced over time.

“When we rebuild a lake, we use smaller fish,” Detar said, “so it will take a few years for the fish to grow and get to a good size for the anglers.”

He reminded anglers not to introduce fish into the lake on their own.

“People can think they’re helping out when really they can cause a lot of problems if they try to introduce their own species at their own time,” he said.

He said the commission is excited about getting the lake refilled and running again, saying Colyer Lake was an excellent warm-water fishery back in the 1990s. The goal is to get it back to providing high-quality fishing opportunities in the region.

This story was originally published January 13, 2016 at 6:51 PM with the headline "Christmas trees play role in Colyer Lake’s rebirth."