What animals nest in wood piles?

Wildlife such as song birds, voles, chipmunks, squirrels, rabbits, salamanders, frogs, lizards, snakes, and insects use piles as dens or nesting spots, to shelter from bad weather, to escape predators, and to forage.

nnrg.org - Keeping Dead Wood and Creating Wildlife Habitat Piles

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Snags, large down logs, and big decadent trees provide food and shelter to more than 40 percent of wildlife species in Pacific Northwest forests. This coarse woody debris provides important structures for cavity-dependent birds and small mammals, food sources for woodpeckers and other foragers, and slowly release nutrients into the ecosystem with the help of decomposers. Forests naturally include some trees that have succumb to diseases, pests, storm events, or old age – some disease, decay, and tree death is normal in a healthy forest. Damaged, dead, deformed, and dying trees are hotspots of biodiversity and biological legacies. Second- and third-growth forests often lack sufficient snags and down logs because these materials were removed during previous intensive forest management; or the few remaining are in advanced stages of decay. Historically, undisturbed lowland westside forests in Oregon and Washington with healthy populations of snag-dependent wildlife species had an average of 10-18 snags per acre and 50-140 down logs per acre in varying states of decay and size.1 Terrestrial amphibians, reptiles, birds, and small mammals depend on large coarse woody debris for protection as well as foraging for insects, fungi, and seeds. Additionally, many species of fungi, moss, lichens, ferns, and invertebrates that form an integral part of a healthy forest depend on dead trees and down woody material for all or a part of their life cycle. Wildlife biologists consider high-quality snags to be standing dead conifers with diameters that are 12 inches or larger. Cavity-nesting birds like woodpeckers need trees with diameters of at least 25 inches. Large hardwoods such as bigleaf maples and Oregon white oaks also provide snags with large cavities. Conifer snags tend to last longer than hard wood snags, as hardwoods decay faster. The larger the tree, the larger the snag, the better.

Through retention and natural recruitment, manage your forest to include:

At least 4 down logs per acre that are 20 feet long and 20 inches in diameter – the larger the better At least 4 snags per acre that are 20 feet tall and 12 inches in diameter – the larger the better In the short term, creating wildlife habitat piles and constructed logs can provide some of the functions of dead wood.

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Can you stack firewood on gravel?

While there are many methods of stacking and storing firewood that vary by region and culture, the principles behind each of them are the same. Keep your firewood elevated off the ground or on gravel for proper drainage. Moisture can also seep into the bottom layer of wood from the ground via capillary action.

mtnhp.com - Are You Stacking Your Firewood Properly? - Mountain Hearth & Patio

At Mountain Hearth & Patio, customer safety comes first, that’s why we want to educate you on how to get the best performance out of your appliance. If you burn wood for heat, it’s important to use properly dried and seasoned wood to get the best efficiency from your fireplace. This is not just important for helping you burn less wood for more heat, it is also key to keeping creosote buildup in your chimney low. Creosote is an acidic, flammable byproduct of wood combustion that must be removed from your chimney yearly. If you’re burning poorly seasoned wood, creosote will build up more quickly and become hazardous before the burning season is even over. Keeping your firewood dry and ready to burn is all in how you store it. Your wood should have a moisture content of 20% or less. Freshly cut wood can take a year or more to be fully seasoned. If you’re buying cord wood that is already seasoned, keeping it protected from the weather and off the ground in a good stack will ensure it stays dry and ready to burn.