Pruning is a fundamental part of taking care of the trees on your property. Among other benefits, it promotes optimal growth and removes hazardous and/or infected dying or dead wood. But trees aren’t just attractive physical structures. They’re also living things and resources for other living things, not least animals. How do you go about pruning trees without negatively impacting wildlife?
Trees and Wildlife
Trees function as a critical wildlife resource. For one thing, they’re a habitat. They provide shelter and cover, not to mention a platform for nesting for species like birds. Other species like insects and spiders to mammals such as squirrels, raccoons, and even black bears use trees to rear young.
And it’s not only nesting habitat. Trees represent denning and roosting sites as well as food resources for countless critters. Those include pollinators tapping into flowers as well as fruit/berry- and nut-eating species. They’re also perches for birds scanning for eats elsewhere: from flycatchers to owls.
Tree Pruning That Minimizes Negative Effects on Wildlife (and Provides Ecological Benefits)
Wildlife-sensitive pruning boils down to a few simple tenets. Simply being observant is one of them. And much of it involves being aware of the seasonal and spatial context of the tree in question.
It’s often best to delay pruning till after nesting season to avoid disturbing birds and their nestlings. That said, it may be possible to conduct pruning and other tree care in the vicinity of an active nest so long as the arborist is careful. Maintaining a buffer zone around the nest and pruning at the right time of day and under low-risk weather conditions are important. Even if pruning work is done in a different tree than where a nest is located, it can have an effect. Boughs removed in one tree may expose a nest to weather, including direct sunlight.
That’s all to do with seasonal context. What about spatial? While all trees are important to wildlife in one way or another, some are more so than others. A large, mature tree with a complex canopy may well represent more significant wildlife habitat than smaller surrounding trees. That might mean taking more care devising the right pruning strategy.
Careful and responsible arborists stay observant. When assessing a tree to decide on a pruning approach, they’ll look for signs of wildlife activity. “Whitewash” can reveal a tree actively used by birds for nesting or simply regular roosting. A major tree cavity likely shelters critters. All of this can be taken into account to minimize impacts.
Remember, too, that properly done pruning can directly benefit animals. After all, it improves tree health, which means maintaining an important wildlife resource on the landscape longer term.
Turn to Professional Arborists for Ecologically Sensitive Tree Care
Taking on a tree pruning job yourself isn’t only dangerous to you (and possibly harmful to the tree). It can also negatively affect the wildlife that are a linchpin of a local ecosystem. Trust the job to a professional arborist who not only knows trees inside and out but also how to maintain them in the proper way. When you need tree pruning services in Holliston, MA, contact Tree Specialists.
