U-DA-MAN Co-Ho-Ho Recycling Event Cancelled

The U-Da-Man Yaquina River Co-ho Ho Habitat Project has been cancelled for this year. Over the past 4-years in early March the U-DA-MAN, Oregon Department of Fish & Wildlife, Salmon Trout Enhancement Program project on the Yaquina River has taken place. Volunteers from the community place a large number of clean recycled Christmas trees into the water way by securing them to existing log pilings.

The trees are placed to provide juvenile salmon with temporary habitat and protection from predators, particularly cormorants. Cormorants feed heavily on small juvenile salmon as they make their way down stream in their migration to the ocean. The idea of the project is to hopefully enhance salmon populations, including Chinook and Coho, in the Yaquina River system. However this year's event has had to be cancelled due to concerns of parasites in Christmas Trees purchased from North Carolina.

Some retailers in the Willamette Valley and other locations purchased Christmas trees from North Carolina this year that have been feared to be infected with the "Elongate Hemlock Scale" parasite or its eggs. After researching the problem and hearing concerns from the Oregon Department of Forestry, the local Watershed Council, ODFW and others, the local U-Da-Man group made the decision to cancel this years project as they are unable to determine where and from what retailer the donated Christmas trees came from and do not want to risk the habitat on the Yaquina River.