Arborist Jeremiah Sandler, of Tree First Arboriculture in Royal Oak, Mich., encourages clients to retain some dead wood on their properties when having trees trimmed or taken down. If nothing else, he says, it can save money on removal and disposal, which can account for up to 10 percent of a bill. “When I explain it to folks, the success rate of convincing them to retain some dead wood is between 70 to 80 percent,” he says.

Sandler recommends asking your arborist for suggestions on ways to retain some of the wood from a dead or dying tree, whether it’s leaving a stump in the ground to decompose naturally, adding a portion of a large limb to your garden or cutting a trunk into pieces to use as child-sized seating. “Some arborists are ecologically minded, but don’t know they can implement those things in practice,” he says.

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