Written by Richard Stoll
(LAWRENCEBURG, Ind.) -- Many believe a dead tree has no wildlife value but this couldn’t be farther from the truth. Trees can actually provide more habitats for wildlife dead than when they are alive.
Standing dead or dying trees are called “snags” or often called “wildlife trees” by foresters and occur as a result of disease, lightning, fire, animal damage, too much shade, drought as well as old age. Snags provided critical habitat for more than 100 species of birds and mammals.
Trees of all sizes are potential snags. Unfortunately many snags are viewed as a nuisance or eyesore and cut down without much thought to its wildlife value.
Snags play an important role in forest ecosystems. They can become animal homes, provide bird nesting cavities, sources of food, and offer places for animals to hide and store food. Nesting cavities, once vacant, can become the home to “secondary nesters” such as The Eastern Screech Owl, Purple Martins and Tree Swallows and many more. These secondary nesters are animals who need to nest in cavities, but who cannot excavate the cavity themselves. Many North American bird species need snags to complete their life cycle.
Large snags offer ideal hunting perches for hawks, eagles and owls. Large snags are typically more than 12 inches in diameter and 15 feet or more tall. They are also used as resting perches by tanagers, flycatchers, blue jays, vultures and many other bird species.
Woodpeckers use large snags as a way to announce their presence during courtship, hammering their bills against the tree’s resonating surface. Bats, too, use snags for roosting.
Smaller snags may be used as song posts by hummingbirds, bluebirds, and other songbirds to attract mates and proclaim nesting territories. Black-capped chickadees nest in small tree snags as little as four inches in diameter and six feet tall.
If not managed properly, snags can pose a risk to people and structures. An alternative to eliminating the entire tree is to remove only the dangerous sections. Consulting a certified arborist with experience in wildlife snags is highly recommended. These professionals can determine what part of the tree is a hazard and provide management options to eliminate any risk.
If you think about it, snags are really not dead. The tree may no longer have living tissue but these woody skeletons are vibrant hubs of life, supporting a diverse array of animals. Trees have many more years of life-giving purpose even after they die.
Richard Stoll is a Board member with Oak Heritage Conservancy. For more information about Oak Heritage, follow us on Facebook or visit: OakHeritageConservancy.org
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