Enhancing Wildlife Habitat: Brush Piles and Snags

Adapted from Penn State Extension publication Management Practices for Enhancing Wildlife Habitat* by Margaret Brittingham, Professor Emerita of Wildlife Resources

By enhancing wildlife habitat on your property, you can improve the habitat quality for wildlife while increasing wildlife viewing and recreational opportunities. The most common habitat management practices for wildlife are described below. The descriptions are brief and general. For more details about which practices are appropriate for your property, consult a wildlife management specialist.

Creating Brush Piles

Brush piles are piles of brush that are assembled to provide resting/escape cover and den sites for wildlife. Brush piles are used for cover by eastern cottontails and other small mammals. Songbirds may use brush piles for perch sites, especially if the piles are located near feeding or nest sites. Also, if brush piles are adjacent to a water source, amphibians and reptiles may use them for breeding, feeding, or resting.

The best brush piles for wildlife start with the largest materials (pole-sized logs) at the bottom and end with the smallest materials (small limbs or shrubs) at the top of the pile. The materials are arranged so that the brush pile is raised slightly above the ground. This makes it easier for animals to get under the brush pile and into cover. Placing the largest materials on the bottom of the pile also slows the brush pile’s rate of decay.

Brush piles are generally placed near food sources and in places where low cover for wildlife may be sparse or absent. Forest openings, forest edges, and timbered areas are good places to build brush piles because many types of wildlife feed in openings and along forest edges, often benefiting from the additional cover provided by the piles.

Creating Snags

Snags are dead or partially dead standing trees that provide a number of important benefits to a variety of wildlife (see Table 1 below). Snags provide cavities for nesting and resting, perches for hunting and displaying, and an abundant supply of food for insect eaters. In Pennsylvania, there are over 35 species of birds and 20 species of mammals that use snags at some point in their life cycles. In addition, many species of reptiles and amphibians also use the cavities in snags.

Different species of wildlife prefer different types and sizes of snags in a variety of habitats. Some species prefer hard snags (dead or partially dead trees with fairly sound wood and some limbs remaining) while others prefer soft snags (also called “punky,” in advanced stages of decay, and rarely with limbs). Some species, like Wood Ducks and Barred Owls, require large snags simply because they need large cavities in which to nest. Other species, such as the Tufted Titmouse, will forage and nest in cavities inside smaller snags. To accommodate a variety of species, many landowners try to maintain several types and sizes of snags.

The best method to provide snags for wildlife is to retain existing snags in places where they will not create a dangerous situation for people using the nearby area for outdoor activities like hiking or cutting firewood. There are a number of guidelines suggested for the types, sizes, and numbers of snags that are best for wildlife. Details about snags can be found in Pennsylvania Woodlands series publication Dead Wood for Wildlife; you can request a copy by emailing PrivateForests@psu.edu or calling 814-863-0401 (please leave your name and mailing address). When the abundance or distribution of snags is inadequate or if particular types of snags are desired, snags can also be “created.” Creating snags involves deadening trees so that they remain standing. Success depends on the method used for the tree species you are trying to deaden, the current health of the individual tree, and the specific site characteristics such as the presence of forest pests that may accelerate the tree’s death.

Retaining or creating snags is often incorporated into other habitat management practices. For instance, if a clearing or a forest-edge cutting is planned to create an opening or release trees and shrubs, some of the trees that would be removed could instead be deadened and left standing.

*Read the entire publication at https://extension.psu.edu/management-practices-for-enhancing-wildlife-habitat.