Critters at Willowbrook want your Christmas trees

Mulch seems be the most common byproduct of Christmas tree recycling programs throughout the suburbs, but not at the Willowbrook Wildlife Center in Glen Ellyn.

The education and rehabilitation facility for native fauna uses the trees to enrich its animal habitats.

"Many of the animals use the trees for cover to hide behind, but the trees also provide different things for different animals," said Sandy Fejt, education site manager at Willowbrook. "The trees provide new smells and act as a sort of sensory enrichment for animals like raccoons and foxes. It gives them a sense of normalcy, but changes their pace and routine a little."

The center is looking for at least 30 new trees to add to the habitats for animals who are being kept at the facility because they are too injured to be released back into the wild and for recovery pens used to house rehabilitating animals. Officials are accepting live trees, wreathes and decorative roping. The wreathes and roping are used for the center's indoor songbird displays.

All the Christmas flora must be stripped of ornaments, tinsel and other artificial decorations before it's dropped off at the facility, Fejt said. The center is accepting the items during regular business hours listed on its Web site at willowbrookwildlife.com.

If the center receives more than it can handle, the excess trees are either dragged onto the ice at area forest preserve lakes to be used as fish habitats when the ice thaws or turned into mulch to be used in forest preserves.

"They'll never go to waste," Fejt said.

Fejt said the trees last most of the year for some animals, but other creatures treat the additions to their habitats like a 3-year-old boy with a new toy and the trees don't last long.

"The eagles find them so entertaining," she said. "They spend most of their time with them breaking off the branches, so it's more entertainment value for them."

Caretakers at the center also use the trees to stimulate the animals by hiding food in the branches. This requires some of the animals to use their natural foraging instincts to locate their meal.

Some animals take to the trees immediately, while it takes others a while to get used to the new furniture in their pens.

"It's kind of interesting to watch them when you first put it in there," Fejt said. "Once they realize it's nothing that's going to harm them, they start getting real inquisitive and more natural behavior comes out."

Doris Taylor, the plant clinic manager at the Morton Arboretum in Lisle, suggests residents who want to provide habitats for birds during the winter could use the trees in their own yards then discard the remains of the tree in the spring.

"Birds usually appreciate having some cover in the winter," she said. "If your yard doesn't already have a lot of evergreens, you can decorate the tree with bird feed, popcorn or cranberries to attract birds. This is a good winter project for kids."