I have to start this blog post with a confession. When I worked in City of Port Moody’s Klahanie neighbourhood I ran into my first wildlife tree. The tree was tall and cut in half. It sported a yellow sign and I thought it was a joke. That’s until early 2017. Since finishing Peter Wohlleben’s excellent tree book best-seller “The Hidden Life of Trees” I have a new and deeper appreciation for trees.
Why are they important
My new appreciation now extends to wildlife trees. It turns out that wildlife trees are extremely important in forest ecosystems. Removal of dead trees from forests is a big mistake. Why? Because fungi and insects can not use live trees. For live trees contain too much water which makes them very tough. And too fresh and sugary. What they really love is soft, woody fibers and moist moldy cells.
Dead trees are much better. Birds come in and create homes by burrowing through the bark. As Wohlleben points out in his book, some of this home construction is very hard work. Therefore, some bird species start the hole in the bark and then they wait for fungi to move in.
Fungi find penetrating tree bark impossible so once the birds do the dirty work, they move in. Eventually they turn the inside of the cavity into soft mush and the birds continue with their construction.
Dead wood
Dead wood serves one crucial role. That of nutrient recycler. Wohlleben mentions that one-fifth of all animal and plant species depend on dead wood. That makes it a big deal.
Most of the above information played over in my head as I walked through a new work site recently. It’s set nicely against a wild buffer zone which gently slopes down to the river. As I walked through, I noticed several wildlife trees. While none of them had any special tags, their presence was hardly accidental. We know they all serve an important role. A role I now appreciate.
