LAKE ISABELLA, Calif. -- During the holiday season, more than 30 thousand Christmas trees are sold in Kern County.

Most of those trees end up as mulch or fuel for boilers, but some end up giving back to the environment and ecosystem.

For more than ten years, old Christmas trees have been taken up to Lake Isabella where they are turned into fish habitats. But before they could become havens for the fish, they had to get there.

On Saturday, members of Bakersfield High School’s ROTC gathered at Bakersfield College to load up three large bins with as many Christmas trees as possible to be trucked up to Lake Isabella.

Upon arrival, volunteers with the Kern Valley Fish and Game Habitat Club were ready to turn more than 400 cages into fish habitats.

Although the cages are currently on dry land, once the water rises, the cages will be immersed in water and become habitats to many smaller fish.

But, if the water does not rise, the trees will not go to waste. Instead, they will become habitats for rabbits, quail, and other land mammals.

Kern Valley Fish and Game Club member Arthur Robinson said, “It helps everyone. It helps the sports fisherman, and is actually really helps the critters. It helps land mammals, birds, and is also helps the fish.”

Robinson also said the Department of California Fish and Game has confirmed that there are higher populations of fish where the Christmas tree-filled cages are located.