Year of the Tree: Life Givers in Death

Who doesn’t love a tree? Trees provide shade from the sun. They protect soils from erosion with their roots.

They soak up rainwater and minimize flooding. Trees produce leaves, berries and nuts that other organisms eat to survive. They store carbon dioxide and release oxygen into the atmosphere. And,

while accomplishing all of these important functions for the environment, trees are just darned beautiful to look at.

The importance of trees to the environment doesn’t end in death. Dead and dying trees play a critical role to myriad creatures, both great and small, and it’s time we start recognizing that.

When a tree dies the process of decay softens the wood fibers and curls the bark away from the trunk. The resulting conditions are ripe for home-building for a variety of critters, starting with the decomposers; insects and fungi (see related article on page 6). Beetle grubs, ants and termites are in turn food for insectivores like woodpeckers, fence lizards, tree frogs and black bears.

Woodpeckers also use dead trees to chip out cavities in which to lay their eggs and raise their young. Once the woodpeckers move on, their nest holes remain and provide critical real estate for an incredible variety of critters that can’t make their own cavities, but need them for nesting or shelter.

A short list of animals that take advantage of abandoned woodpecker cavities includes; wood ducks, greatcrested flycatchers, screech owls, eastern bluebirds, southern flying squirrels, black rat snakes and some types of bats – and that’s barely scratching the surface.

In fact, a birdhouse is simply an artificial tree cavity meant to attract and benefit cavity nesters. The cheap, zero-maintenance, natural option to bird houses? Leave dead trees standing and let them do their jobs. Of

course, there are times when safety to people and property take precedence over wildlife habitat, but whenever it’s possible, allowing trees to decay naturally over time provides tremendous benefits to critters.

Remember, even in death, a tree hasn’t given everything it has to give to the environment and allowing that process to take place is one of the most-beneficial things we can do for the birds and animals we hold so dear.