[carapace]

Looking for suggestions for bird attracting plants to replace big leaf maples in a ravine in the pacific northwest of the US. This is a wild area which contains huckleberry and salmonberry already but probably not enough of each. Any other suggestions would be appreciated. We will probably plant more maples (our neighbors cut these down without our permission) as we had a Western Screech Owl and we'd like to see him again.

[DownyWP]

If it's a large area you could make a frame of large evergreen and deciduous trees, such as Douglas Firs, Western Hemlock and of course your Bigleaf Maples. I would try to include species that form dense thickets such as Douglas Hawthorne and Native roses to protect the little wildlife. How about Red Osier Dogwood, Twinberry, Elderberry, Serviceberries and Snowberries for fall and winter food. In my small lot I have the former mentioned, plus 5 Vine Maples, 3 birch, 2 Red alder, 3 full grown Japanese Maples(yeah, I know, not native but they were already there when we moved in) 2 Sub Alpine Firs and our neighbor in the back has the full grown Douglas Firs to form sort of a canopy. So that pretty much covers food and shelter, the other thing you need is to provide water for the birds and wildlife. Good luck! Ruth