Mckenzie Farms Donates Trees to Coho Habitat

by Michael Ellis

Mckenzie Farms, one of the largest christmas tree growers in Oregon, has been donating leftover christmas trees to us to use for Coho Salmon Habitat. They always end the season with some trees that didn't sell and have to find some way to get rid of them. They are happy to see them go for fish habitat.

On Saturday, February 9th, Jeff Price and I went to Mckenzie Farms with a rented truck and Jeff's truck and trailer to see how many trees we could take. We were able to load about 50 on Jeff's rig and another 140 or so in the U Haul truck. The truck already held 70 trees that we had collected at our drop sites in January but hadn't been able to transport yet. It looked like there were thousands of leftover trees there. From Mckenzie Farms we drove to Herb Thompson's property near Seaside and dropped off about 100 trees. 

From there we drove to The Mill Ponds in Seaside. This is a wetland with a lot of tidal influence. There are often thousands of Coho fry in here and they get ravaged by Cormorants, Herons and other predators. These trees will help them stay safe.

Here Jeff Price adds another christmas tree to the pond while Doug Ray supervises. Jeff and I had to get back to town so we left as soon as we were done unloading. Most of the trees still need to be placed. I'll let you know if there is an opportunity to help out.