Best large and small native trees for wildlife

Wildlife makes use of trees from the very top to the bottom. Alive or dead, standing or fallen, they’re places for nesting, resting, shelter, and food. It’s no wonder, then, that trees are valuable in a backyard wildlife habitat (and everywhere else). Native trees are best because they’re adapted to local environments and require less care.

The best time to plant a tree is twenty years ago. The second best time is now. — Chinese proverb

The food produced by a tree is called its mast. The mast of a walnut tree, for example, is walnuts, and that of a pear tree is pears. In addition to fruits and nuts, the mast of some trees is seeds, which are eaten by numerous species. Mast feeds animals in summer, fattens them up in the fall, and helps them survive through winter. The importance of mast to wild animals (and humans, too) can’t be overstated.

Hard-shelled mast

Nuts are a hard-shelled mast. They’re high in protein, carbohydrates, and fat. Nut-producing trees can be “messy” because fallen nuts litter the ground. But nuts are long-lasting and particularly valuable to squirrels, chipmunks, and other animals in the winter when other food sources are in short supply.

Soft mast

Trees that produce soft mast, like berries, provide moisture, sugar, carbohydrates, and vitamins to wildlife. Soft mast is fleshy and perishable. Some of these trees hold their fruit through the winter and become “last-resort” sources when almost everything else has been eaten. You can extend berry season by planting several different species that produce at different times. Soft mast trees draw large flocks of songbirds and other animals as their fruit ripens. Ground-feeding birds and other critters, including butterflies, will consume or sip juices from fallen, rotting fruit.

The trees listed here are proven to be valuable for nesting, resting, shelter, and their mast. Most are deciduous, meaning they drop their leaves in winter, but offer protection the rest of the year. Try to include some evergreens, such as pines, junipers or spruce, in your landscape, too—they provide year-round cover and mast in the form of seeds or berries.

SMALL NATIVE TREES

SMALL NATIVE TREES	COMMON NAME	LATIN NAME

Alder	Speckled, Tag, Black	Alnus spp.
Beech	American	Fagus grandifolia
Blackhaw	aka Blackhaw Viburnum and Sweet Haw	Viburnum prunifolium
Blueberry	Highbush	Vaccinium corymbosum
Buckeye	Yellow, Western, Painted	Aesculus spp.
Cherry	Fire, Carolina Laurel, Chokecherry	Prunus spp.
Cranberry	Highbush	Viburnum trilobum
Desert Willow		Chilopsis linearis
Dogwood	Flowering, Silky	Cornus spp.
Elderberry	American, Red	Sambucus canadensis
Fringe Tree		Chionanthus virginicus
Hawthorn	Cockspur, Black, Downy, Washington	Crataegus spp.
Hazelnut	American	Corylus americana
Holly	Yaupon, Winterberry, Mountain	Ilex spp.
Mulberry	Red, White, Russian	Morus spp.
Oak	Blackjack, Post	Quercus spp.
Pawpaw		Asimina triloba
Persimmon		Diospyros virginiana
Plum	American, Mexican	Prunus spp.
Redbud	Eastern	Cercis canadensis
Serviceberry	Downy, Allegheny, Western	Amelanchier spp.
Sumac	Staghorn, Flameleaf, Smooth	Rhus spp.
Willow	Peach-leaved, Sandbar, Yellow	Salix spp.

LARGE NATIVE TREES

LARGE NATIVE TREES	COMMON NAME	LATIN NAME

Alder	Red	Alnus rubra
Ash	European, Green	Fraxinus spp.
Basswood	American, White	Tilia spp.
Beech	American	Fagus grandiflora
Birch	Paper, River, Yellow	Bettula spp.
Blackgum	aka Tupelo, Black Tupelo	Nyssa sylvatica
Boxelder	aka Boxelder Maple, Maple Ash	Acer negundo
Buckeye	Yellow, Red, Painted, Ohio	Aesculus spp.
Cherry	Wild Black	Prunus serotina
Hackberry	Northern	Celtis occidentalis
Hickory	Pignut, Shagbark, Mockernut, Bitternut	Carya spp.
Juniper (evergreen)	Eastern Red Cedar, Rocky Mountain	Juniperus spp.
Magnolia	Sweet Bay, Cucumber	Magnolia spp.
Maple	Red, Sugar, Mountain	Acer spp.
Mulberry	Red	Morus rubra
Oak	Bur, Chinkapin, Pin, English, Red. Willow	Quercus spp.
Pine (evergreen)	Shortleaf, White, Loblolly, Jack, Eastern White	Pincea spp.
Walnut	Black	Juglans nigra
Willow	Black, Yellow	Salix spp.