Saguaro Lake fish habitat project
AZGFD staff, volunteers, and Boy Scout Troop #325 from Queen Creek met at Saguaro Lake early in the morning on Saturday, Jan. 9, to create new fish habitat.
About 50 people tied cinder blocks to donated Christmas trees, loaded them onto a boat equipped with underwater sonar, and then submerged the trees into six places on the lake to create new fish habitats. The trees will add structure to the environment for fish species such as largemouth and smallmouth bass, catfish and bluegill, and will also create a refuge for smaller fish and plankton. Altogether, more than 700 trees were placed in the lake.
Some of the trees came from the Mesa Environmental Management and Sustainability Department, which collected trees at drop-off points where owners discarded them after the Christmas holiday.
Several news media outlets, including some Spanish-language stations, covered the event. Some of the news stories are at:
- Arizona Republic, "Christmas trees are recycled as habitat for fish in Saguaro Lake"
- AZfamily.com (Phoenix Channels 3 and 5), "Christmas trees are being used at Saguaro Lake to create a new fish habitat"
- Fox 10 (Phoenix), "Dried-out Christmas trees make new homes for fish at Saguaro Lake"
- 12 News (Phoenix), "Christmas trees are being used to fill fish habitats at Saguaro Lake"
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