Is decorating a tree a traditional part of your Christmas or other fall or winter holiday season? If so, do you feel a slight guilt at cutting down a tree that could continue to serve the environment? Holiday Trees for Habitat is your out. The program is being sponsored by the Mountains to Sound Greenway Trust, which works to steward the 1.5-million-acre landscape that stretches from Seattle to Ellensburg along I-90.
Instead of cutting down a tree, the program invites families to adopt a living holiday tree this year. In fact, your family will just be borrowing the tree. After the holidays, participants in the program return the trees to organizers who will care for them until spring, then plant them at a habitat restoration project site.
How it works
Living holiday trees must be pre-ordered between Oct. 1 and Nov.23 (while supplies last). They come in sizes: 2-foot-tall trees can be reserved for a $100 minimum donation and 4-foot-tall trees for a $200 minimum donation. You read that right: these trees are brought home through donations, with all proceeds supporting local habitat restoration projects, including those in the Issaquah area, through the Mountains to Sound Greenway Trust and Friends of Lake Sammamish State Park.
You’ll pick up your tree — wrapped in burlap and ready to set in its spot inside or outside— at the Lake Sammamish Holiday Market on Saturday, Dec. 5 between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. If that time doesn’t work, trees can also be picked up on Sunday, Dec. 6 between noon and 3 p.m. at the Greenway Trust Native Plant Nursery at Lake Sammamish State Park. Reach out to Mountains to Sound Greenway if neither pickup date works.
Return your tree at Lake Sammamish State Park on Jan. 9 or Jan. 16 between 10 a.m. – 2 p.m.
A full-circle experience for the family
Make it a full-circle experience: You’ll receive an invitation to help plant the tree you adopted from the trust. Pack up the family and get out there and dig some dirt for a better environment while providing your kids with a connection to the land.
Living trees “turn an everyday holiday tradition into a hands-on lesson in caring for nature,” said Becca Kedenburg, Mountains to Sound Greenway Trust education and volunteer senior manager. “They get to watch a living tree grow, understand that trees are part of a much bigger ecosystem, and then help give that tree a second life along a salmon creek.
“It’s an engaging way to teach children that we can celebrate the holidays while also giving something back to the environment,” Kedenburg added.
