Sometimes, it’s the things that are decaying that can help other things thrive.
On your next visit to Assiniboine Park or in one of the many beautiful forests in Manitoba, see if you can find a snag, or wildlife tree – a dead or dying tree that’s still standing. While your first thought might be to remove them to make way for new life, you might be surprised that by it being there, it's already making a significant contribution to the environment around it.
Although snags can be found all throughout the Park's forests, these ones can be found at the volleyball courts on the north west side of the Park.
Snags are an important part of forest ecology because they are home to a plethora or bacteria, fungus, insects, and other microorganisms which form the base of an enormous food chain, supporting dozens of species of birds, mammals, and amphibians.
Snag Stages (Photo Credit: US Government)
These decaying wildlife trees also help support a wide variety of animals and wildlife by being a habitat for them to nest in as well as to prevent various insect outbreaks to maintain sustainable forest populations.
At Assiniboine Park, our arborists monitor these trees by conducting inspections and tree risk assessments, removing them only when necessary to mitigate a safety concern. They are also creating snags in our forests when removing live trees that are good candidates by topping them (removing the crown of the tree) down to a safe height to avoid excess wind load, and allowing them to decompose naturally with intermittent inspections. We have seen many species using the snags in the park, including pileated woodpeckers, white-breasted nuthatches, bats, wood ducks, and, of course, squirrels.
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Understanding the importance of standing dead trees, and the positive feedback loops that they create, is an integral part of shifting our engagement of urban forestry towards a more sustainable, health-focused model. Even though sometimes unsightly, these trees are critical in a landscape with fewer and fewer nesting opportunities, and increased disturbance.
