Brush Piles 101 : The Humane Society of the United States

Brush Piles 101 : The Humane Society of the United States

wo basic ways to construct a brush pile

Pallet Type (This is more frequently recommended.) Use a pallet of material as a base and then stack tree tops, old Christmas trees, flower stalks, limbs, leaves, and twigs on top to form the pile.

The most common type of pallet brush pile is made by stacking two or three layers of 6-inch-diameter logs at right angles to each other. Logs should be about 6 feet long and should be placed about 10 inches apart within each layer. You can also use several tree stumps or 12-inch rocks as pallets.

Teepee Type
Arrange about eight 6- to 8-foot untrimmed branches in a diagonal teepee fashion, either standing alone or over a tree stump.

Tips for building a better brush pile of either type

• Isolated piles are less likely to be used. Choose an area with good drainage; near a forest edge, along a stream, or at the edge or back corner of a property; and close to existing food sources and shrubs.
• Ideal piles are 4 to 8 feet tall and from 10 to 20 feet in diameter.
• Brush piles are flammable; keep them away from buildings.
• On larger properties with little natural cover, create three or four brush piles per acre.
• Where aesthetics are important, plant native vines such as wild grape, honeysuckle, and trumpet creeper as an attractive cover for the brush pile, or plant a border of wildflowers.
• Rot and decay are a normal process of brush piles. As they rot, they attract more insects, providing additional food for birds. The piles should be inspected yearly, though, to see if the state of decay is such that a new brush pile should be constructed.