Catch and release your Christmas tree instead of cutting it down this year.

Adopt-A-Stream Foundation will rent you a live tree for the season, then take it back and return it to nature where it will be used to restore stream banks and protect salmon habitat.

From 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Dec. 18, the organization will be renting live Sitka spruce, western red cedar and Douglas fir trees, 5-foot and under, at the Northwest Stream Center in McCollum Park, 600 128th St. SE, Everett.

The trees rent for $20, plus a $10 refundable deposit. Return drop off is from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Jan. 3 through 7. Everyone who returns their tree on or before Jan. 7 will receive their deposit and an annual Adopt-A-Stream Foundation membership that includes discounts on Streamkeeper Academy Classes and at the Streamkeeper Nature Store, and use of the natural resource library at the Northwest Stream Center.

For more information or go to www.streamkeeper.org. To reserve a tree in advance, call 425-316-8592.

Herald staff