It's that time of year where large numbers of Christmas trees will be weighed down and chunked into ponds, reservoirs, bath tubs, what have yous, to provide increased habitat for all types of fishes. Generally, this seems like a pretty good idea; but...

Are the resins, or any other part of a decomposing pine tree, likely to pose a problem to the health of fishes? I'm thinking not of a couple trees anchored off someone's dock in a lake, or in a flowing stream, but rather in rather shallow, small (less than 1/8 acre) ponds with not a lot of turnover. Cypress swamps hold lots of fish, but cypress aren't evergreen like firs and pines, so maybe they have a different chemistry?

Growing up, my Gramp's pond was one of my favorite places to be. It was tiny, maybe 30' in diameter, nearly round with a spring feeding it, but not a high rate. At its deepest it was probably only 8'. It harbored lots of wildlife though. I just wonder what a half-dozen or so trees piled up in one corner, or in the "deeps" might have done to the local Lepomis, and other finny fauna.

Never thought about that, good chance there is coming off them that's harmful, in small stagnant lakes and ponds anyway. Or of my dive spots is a lake down in Summersville, WV where there's literally an entire dive attraction that's just dozens if not hundreds if dead Christmas trees piled up, what I noticed there was that small Lepomis and Micropterus fry were thriving in the maze of brush. However this is a very large lake (357 feet at the deepest point) with creeks leading into and out of it.