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Nature's Way

© Renie Burghardt

Most of my woods, except directly around the house, are left in their natural state. I don't do any clearing to make them look like a beautiful park; I let Nature have her way in them.

Dead trees, standing or laying down don't get carted away, even though my son is often anxious and willing to use the chainsaw on them. So when I walk in the woods, I often have to step over dead logs lying on the forest's floor, or look up at a dead standing tree, lacking the beautiful green canopy of the live ones, lacking the visionary appeal of a living being. But that dead standing tree, also called a "snag," or that dead lying down tree, called a "log," is an important entity in the scheme of things of a forest, and left undisturbed, it allows for an enrichment of the species.

Trees like any living things have infancy, youth, maturity, old age, and death, and we all know how beneficial living trees are to the planet, and it's inhabitants. But how do dead trees benefit and allow for the enrichment of the species? Well it is estimated that over 149 species of birds, 73 species of mammals, 93 species of amphibians and reptiles and most fish use dead trees for survival. Dead trees provide food, nesting places, and or shelter.

When a tree is diseased and dying, cavities form in the heart of the tree, and it loses limbs. Soon, these cavities become homes for woodpeckers, nuthatches, chickadees, bluebirds, some owls, wrens, tree swallows and many other birds. Raccoons and flying squirrels also find homes in them. The loose bark on dead trees is utilized by colonies of bats as well, and the small forest bird, the brown creeper, prefers to nests under lose bark. Snakes get inside cavities to shed their skin, since this is a vulnerable time for them. And tall snags are the preferred nesting sites for Ospreys, some hawks, and great horned owls. Woodpeckers excavate more nesting cavities in the soft wood of a dead tree. After they move on to another tree, other animals move in. Pileated woodpeckers also use a standing snag to drum rhythmically when trying to attract a mate!

Of course, various insects that help decompose the trees also use snags and logs. These insects are food for birds, reptiles and mammals. Many animals also eat the fungi that grow on dying trees, and bare-branched snags are great lookout perches for hawks, eagles, vultures and other large birds of prey, because leafy branches are awkward for them to perch on.

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