Dive Centre Creates Artificial Reef in Arizona Lake Using Old Christmas Trees

We often feel guilty about throwing away our Christmas trees once the festive celebrations are over but one dive centre in Arizona in the United States is using the discarded trees to create artificial reefs in a lake.

Inland Water Divers in Goodyear, Arizona have been taking scuba diving trips in the chilly waters of Lake Pleasant near Phoenix to "re-task" the disused Christmas trees and create new artificial reefs.

Pete Wastak from Inland Water Divers, explained: "We take the trees down to about 50 feet with the stands intact and secure them on the bottom to create a new habitat for the marine life in the lake. The result is an impressive underwater forest that provides a unique way to recycle the trees and create a beautiful underwater site for local divers."

Image by: Duiken Redactie, on Flickr.

Lake Pleasant is one of the area's most visited scuba diving destinations and diver training and scuba diving trips can be enjoyed all year round.

The Christmas trees will be placed on a site called Sunset Ridge which is located in the south-western part of the lake and is known to local divers as Christmas Tree Reef.

As well as providing a diving site for recreational divers to enjoy, the trees will provide a fantastic habitat for fish because smaller species would hide between the branches and larger fish would hang around waiting to catch them.

Image by : melissa.fiene, on Flickr.

Diving enthusiasts can take their pick from many sites around the globe to enjoy amazing scuba diving adventures along artificial reefs in oceans all over the world. One of the most popular artificial reefs is the Museum of Underwater Modern Art in Cancun which features 400 life-sized sculptures that have been individually cast and made using a special cement mix which encourages coral growth.

Other popular artificial sites include the 252-foot-long former USS Kittiwake in Grand Cayman; the USS Vandenberg in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary; and the 563-foot-long USS Arthur W. Radford which was scuttled off the coast of Delaware on the Del-Jersey-Land Inshore Reef site in the United States last summer.

Artificial reefs are created to create a new habitat for marine species while attracting tourists to scuba diving holidays away from natural reefs so that these can be replenished.