The temperatures have dropped in the high country which means it’s ideal for ice fishing activities. Division of Wildlife Resources Conservation Outreach Manager, Aaron Bott took time to speak over the telephone about the activity and recycling your Christmas trees.

“Ice fishing is really picking up. We’ve had this incredible cold snap with snow. I actually drove over the Energy Loop this morning and we got ice on all of our waterbodies. Scofield is the most popular one, a lot of folks are getting out there and they’re still seeing a lot of fish coming on their hooks,” said Bott. Scofield really is the best place to go at this time of year. There have been reports coming in about Joe’s Valley producing some good fish as well and they are about 95 percent capped.

For folks opting for real Christmas trees to adorn this year may not know what to do with them once the holidays are over. The DWR would love to have you recycle your undecorated trees with them this year. “We’re going to be taking your tree donation after Christmas, from Christmas day, December 25 until about January 10. If you want to bring those over to the DNR office that we have in Price, we will have a big pile where you can drop them off. Please remove them of your ornaments, and all of your decorations, we just want the naked tree. We will take those trees out to Desert Lake Waterfowl Management area and we are going to purposely put them all over the waterfowl management area to create habitat for wildlife,” said Bott. There will be a dump trailer located just north of the DWR office building on 319 North Carbonville Road where disposal of Christmas trees will be gathered.

Folks living in Emery County will also have a way to recycle their trees at an area near the kiosk at Desert Lake. “For those that are out in Emery County on the eastern side of the Desert Lake Waterfowl Management area, we will have a pile there just by the main kiosk, so that most popular entrance on that eastern side,” explained Bott. To get to the Desert Lake Waterfowl Management area you will drive to the small town of Elmo, then turn south on the Cleveland-Lloyd Dinosaur Road, following it until it passes through the Desert Lake Wildlife Management Area.

To keep up to date on DWR activities and happenings visit their website at https://wildlife.utah.gov/