Tree Snags Provide Wildlife Habitats

Dead or Dying Trees are Home to Many Animal Species

Mar 2, 2009

Decaying wood provides every bit as much essential wildlife habitat as live trees do.

A snag is a dead or dying tree that is still standing. Snags are often removed from yards or land mistakenly thought of as no longer having value. Nothing could be farther from the truth. A tree’s full life cycle at this point, is far from over.

Snags fulfill the requirements for the homes of mammals such as squirrels, deer mice, martens, raccoons, and bats by providing food, shelter and nesting places. Butterflies, amphibians and reptiles are fond of dead trees, as well.

What Good is a Dead Tree?

The dead or dying trees end up with both naturally occurring cavities in them or ones that birds and mammals excavate themselves to set up home. Snags provide habitats for over 85 species of birds, including wood ducks and owls. They provide homes for beneficial insectivores such as woodpeckers and nuthatches.

Woodpeckers have strong beaks and neck muscles; however, they are only able to excavate nests in wood that has decaying (soft) centers. Because wood peckers rarely use bird houses, dead or dying trees make perfect homes for them.

“It’s difficult for most species to excavate a cavity in a living tree,” says researcher, Ron Rohrbaugh of Cornell University’s Laboratory of Ornithology. “As the tree begins to die, the bark sloughs off and exposes the wood. When the wood softens with the decay and there’s no layer of bark to get through, the tree becomes easier to excavate.” Snags also provide hunting outlooks for birds of prey and perches for songbirds.

Fallen Trees or Snags

When tree or snag eventually falls over, it may provide dens for larger mammals such as foxes, bobcats, skunks, coyotes and opossums. Rotting trees are excellent as nesting places for mammal species. When the tree fully decomposes, the stored nutrients eventually end up back into the soil.

Decaying logs are also home to salamanders, shrews, snakes, sow bugs, stag horn beetles and many other species. Removing snags can cause a negative impact on wildlife populations that are dependent on snags as their primary habitat.

Snag Placement

If you’re looking to attract wildlife to your garden or yard or simply want to help supply a home, there are some trees that make superior snags. The ideal snag would be 3’ in diameter at about chest height and would be 6’ tall or more.

Consider letting dead and dying trees standing exactly where they are for local wildlife. If a tree must be cut there may be some alternatives such as, the canopy branches and large side branches can be removed and just the trunk can be left standing.

If the trunk needs to be removed, it can always be relocated and sunk into a two-foot the ground near a desirable location. Logs or fat branches can always be placed along a meadow walkways or used as forest garden borders.

The copyright of the article Tree Snags Provide Wildlife Habitats in Mammal Habitats is owned by Chris McLaughlin. Permission to republish Tree Snags Provide Wildlife Habitats in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.