How is a Dead Tree Good?
Snag Facts With Impacts ** Over five hundred species of birds, three hundred species of mammals, four hundred species of amphibians and reptiles and nearly all fish benefit from snags for food, nesting or shelter. ** Only thirty bird species are capable of making their own nest cavities in trees. Another eighty animal species depend upon previously excavated or natural tree holes for their nests. ** The insulation of a tree trunk home allows many animal species to survive high summer and low winter temperature extremes. ** Tree cavities and loose bark are used by many animals to store their food supplies. ** Insects living in dead wood eat thousands of forest pests which can harm living trees. ** Fish and amphibians hide under trees that have fallen into the water. ** Woodpeckers and creepers feast on the wood-eating insects and provide “sawdust” for ants to process. Deer eat the lichen growing on the trunks. ** Standing dead trees, called snags, provide birds and mammals with shelter
