Why should I leave a dead tree in my yard for wildlife benefits?
Example of a natural wildlife snag to be used as an example when creating snags within the range of species expectation in urban areas. Tree pictured is a Black Cottonwood (Populus trichocarpa) in Bellevue, Washington near Coal Creek Parkway. This tree is important for water and pollutant cycling in an urban watershed. Its form provides important structure for migrating and resident birds. The tree is still living and will provide benefits into the future. Its form is imperfect and it may be considered ugly by some but isn’t beauty in the eye of the beholder?
