Why are you looking at 2 dead trees? I know that I am always whining about spring coming too slowly to Connecticut (actually I usually say that it doesn’t come at all and that all we have is winter and July.) But surely this isn’t a post about that.
No, it isn’t. And if I carefully think about it, most years, our trees leaf out about the first week of May and stay in leaf until the first week of November when the leaves come down almost like a blizzard. If we’re lucky, there’s enough time between leaf fall and snow fall to get them off the grass.
But the 2 dead trees are important. They are in the portion of our yard that will shortly be leafy woods. We leave them there as “snags,” or wildlife nesting places.
Even if they were to fall, there is enough land around them that nothing could be harmed.
And there are several fallen trees in our tiny woods as well, to provide cover for small creatures and habitat for their young.
Most people don’t have the ability to leave a type of wild place like this in their yards, but a brush pile out of sight can also work (on a smaller scale, of course).
We need to try to provide habitat for our wildlife or we will lose it.
Gardendaze 
I agree. Brush piles, brambles, compost piles, any place that is minimally or unattended and wild leaves a place for wildlife to move in, hide, over winter and generally find shelter. Our landscapes today are desert like mono-cultures. If we want wildlife we need to leave more wild places everywhere not just in designated wildlife preserves.
Our backyards (or decks, porches, patios, whatever we have) are the first line of defense that we have for wildlife. Al those clichés–think globally, act locally, for example–they’re NOT clichés in reality for wildlife. They need our help.
I read something yesterday about not doing anything to clean-up the yard until temperatures are above 50 degrees. All our overwintering insects are still dormant until then. I am not sure if they mean soil temperatures or air temperatures but here, we’re still flirting with temperatures NOT above 50 so there’s no point in rushing out.
And I don’t think this means that on the first warm day we go out and hack everything down either.
I suspect I feel another post coming on….
Karla
Yes. I agree. It’s 50F air temperature.
I move my leaves unto my ornamental beds for winter, then remove in Spring.
I *may* remove earlier than 50F, but I just pile the leaves on the side for awhile for everyone to wake up 😊
That’s an excellent approach. Even if you’re cutting down stems, if you set them aside, at least you’re not discarding wildlife!
Thanks for helping the wildlife! I agree it’s awesome you’re able to see past the trees death, and see life in the forms of animals that will love that tree and call it home. 😍
Here were our trees are the tallest in the world, dead trees can be deadly. If one falls, the tip might reach the next county, or Nevada! Dead limbs sometimes puncture roofs. Even if they are not big, they fall from very high up. Cutting dead trees down and knocking out dead limbs is a never ending chore that we can never keep up with.
We have 267 feet of white pine as a border along our back property lines. They were never properly maintained in their early life so some have double trunks–& white pine are shallowly rooted under good circumstances. Growing on my rock ledge, it’s a nightmare. From November, when the winds really start to blow here, until July, when they stop, I worry. But they too are great trees for the wildlife.
Karla