There are two main types of mast:

Hard mast includes hard nuts and seeds such as acorns, hickory nuts, and walnuts.

Soft mast includes berries and fruits such as crabapples, blueberries, and serviceberries.

The definition of mast is sometimes expanded to include the winged seeds of trees such as maple and elm, as well as pine seeds and nuts and even buds, hips, and catkins such as rose hips.

Both types are important year-round food sources for wildlife, but hard mast is often considered more important, especially as a winter food source, due to its higher energy content.

Mast is one of the most important food sources for hundreds of species of mammals and birds, including game animals such as deer and wild turkey, and some species are almost entirely dependent on it. Mast is an especially important food source in autumn and winter, when it helps animals prepare for and survive the cold. Domestic pigs were also traditionally fattened on hard mast such as acorns or chestnuts.

Mast is not the only benefit of mast-producing trees for wildlife. They also provide an important source of shelter for many smaller mammals and birds, and provide different types of food in the form of leaves, buds, bark, and more. Many fruit and berry producing trees and shrubs are an important source of nectar for honeybees and other pollinators, and more than 500 caterpillar species alone use the oak family (Quercus) as host plants. These caterpillars and other insect herbivores become food for hundreds of species of birds, mammals, reptiles, amphibians, and beneficial insects.

Many types of mast favored by wildlife are considered delicacies by humans as well. Planting mast producing trees is a good way to reduce your grocery bill while enjoying fresh and delicious nuts, fruits, and berries such as elderberry, serviceberry, persimmon, pawpaw, walnut, pecan, and hazelnut. Although unusual in modern American cuisine, acorns were also a major source of food for many American Indian tribes, and were collected and pounded into flour.

When planted on a commercial scale, fruits, nuts, and berries from mast producing trees can provide an excellent primary or supplementary source of income for family farmers.

Mast is not the only benefit of mast producing trees and shrubs for farmers, foresters, and other landowners. Many hard mast producing trees in particular are known for their longevity and fine timber. Mast producing trees make fine, productive additions to any woodlot or managed forest, and are also widely recommended to improve soil quality and prevent erosion on hillsides and in riparian zones. They are widely used in agroforestry systems, in coppicing, and and current research into woody agriculture and analog forestry systems.

Like all trees, they also offer many benefits to homeowners. Studies have found that large deciduous mast-producing trees planted on the south and west sides of your home can reduce summer cooling bills by up to 50% in some areas of the United States. Trees planted in order to shade the air conditioning unit have also been found to make the unit run an average of 10% more efficiently. Trees planted to shade sidewalks and roads reduce the urban heat island effect and help keep the air temperature lower in the neighborhood as a whole. Finally, studies have found that mature trees in a well landscaped yard can raise home values by up to 19%. Another study found that in neighborhoods with tree-lined streets, home values increased by as much as $20,000 compared to comparable neighborhoods and homes without tree-lined streets.

In recent years, trees have gotten a lot of attention for their ability to sequester large amounts of carbon, combating global climate change. Trees are actually carbon neutral over their lifetimes (when a tree is burned or decomposed, it releases all its stored carbon back into the atmosphere), but because so many mast producing trees are so long lived, they are exceptionally well suited to provide hundreds of years of carbon sequestration. Their ability to sequester carbon can be partially extended thanks to their fine timber quality – well made furniture and wooden homes can last hundreds of additional years with extremely slow loss of carbon. Wood is also attracting renewed energy as a clean and renewable energy source thanks to new advanced wood combustion technologies and other research into biomass energy.

Mast producing trees and shrubs are among the most useful, beneficial and multipurpose plants in the world, offering nearly unparalleled benefits to humans, wildlife, and the environment. Whether you are hoping to plant one tree or one thousand, there is a mast producing tree or shrub that will meet your needs. To get started, check out our sample list of mast-producing trees and shrubs at Native Mast-Producing Trees of North America.

Selecting which species of mast-producing tree or shrub to plant can be a challenge for inexperienced gardeners and landowners, so this site includes profiles of many of the most popular families and species.

The following is a sampling of native North American trees, shrubs, and woody vines that produce hard or soft mast, listed alphabetically by scientific name:

• Sugar maple (Acer saccharum)
• White baneberry (Actaea pachypoda)
• Buckeye family (Aesculus sp.)
• Serviceberry family (Amelanchier sp.)
• Mariposa manzanita (Arctostaphylos manzanita)
• Bearberry (Arctostaphylos uva-ursi)
• Aronia family (Aronia sp.)
• Pawpaw (Asimina triloba)
• Hickory family (Carya sp.)
• American chestnut (Castanea dentata)
• Hackberry family (Celtis sp.)
• Dogwood family (Cornus sp.)
• Hazelnut family (Corylus sp.)
• Downy hawthorn (Crataegus mollis)
• American persimmon (Diospyros virginiana)
• Black crowberry (Empetrum nigrum)
• American beech (Fagus grandifloria)
• Green ash (Fraxinus pennsylvanica)
• Wintergreen family (Gaultheria sp.)
• Honey locust (Gleditsia triacanthos )
• Toyon (Heteromeles arbutifolia)
• Common winterberry (Ilex verticilatta)
• Walnut family (Juglans sp.)
• Eastern red cedar (Juniperus virginiana)
• American spicebush (Lindera benzoin)
• Hairy honeysuckle (Lonicera hispidula)
• Oregon grape (Mahonia aquifolium)
• Crabapple family (Malus sp.)
• Mulberry family (Morus sp.)
• Southern Wax Myrtle (Myrica cerifera)
• Black gum (Nyssa sylvatica)
• Virginia creeper (Parthenocissus vitacea)
• Jack pine (Pinus banksiana)
• Prunus family (Prunus sp.)
• Oak family (Quercus sp.)
• Alderleaf buckthorn (Rhamnus alnifolia)
• California coffeeberry (Rhamnus californica)
• Staghorn sumac (Rhus typhina)
• American black currant (Ribes americanum)
• Canadian gooseberry (Ribes oxyacanthoides)
• Virginia Rose (Rosa virgininana)
• Blackberry family (Rubus sp.)
• Elderberry family (Sambucus sp.)
• Soapberry (Shepherdia canadensis)
• Blue witch nightshade (Solanum umbelliferum)
• Mountain ash family (Sorbus americana)
• Snowberry (Symphoricarpus albus)
• American elm (Ulmus americana)
• Blueberry family (Vaccinium sp.)
• Viburnum family (Viburnum sp.)
• Wild grape (Vitus riparia)

Recommended Reading

• Native Trees for North American Landscapes
• Native Trees, Shrubs, and Vines: A Guide to Using, Growing, and Propagating North American Woody Plants
• Native Trees Shrubs, and Vines for Urban and Rural America: A Planting Design Manual for Environmental Designers

Planting native mast species is especially important for people interested in attracting butterflies and birds to their yard. Plants produce toxins in their leaves to discourage insects from munching on them, and caterpillars and other insect herbivores are often highly specialized to resist only one type of toxin. Caterpillars are rarely able to use non-native plants as host plants.

Maintaining healthy populations of caterpillars and other insect herbivores is important for butterfly and moth enthusiasts for obvious reasons, but why should bird lovers care? The fact is that caterpillars make up the most important component of the diet of baby birds thanks to their high energy content. Even birds that are strictly seed eaters as adults feed their nestlings insects. Caterpillars and other insect herbivores are also popular food sources for many small mammals, reptiles, amphibians, and beneficial insects, which in turn are eaten by larger mammals, reptiles, amphibians, and insects, and so forth.

To learn more about the vital role native plants play in maintaining healthy populations of wildlife, the Mast tree Network recommends Bringing Nature Home: How You Can Sustain Wildlife with Native Plants, by Douglas Tallamy.

Of the top 20 tree families Tallamy, a caterpillar specialist, recommends for supporting the greatest levels of caterpillar diversity, all are mast-producers and most are excellent mast producers:

Different tree species produce mast on different schedules. For example, White Oak (Quercus alba), one of the most important autumn mast species in much of the country, produces acorns every year, while Red Oak (Quercus rubra), an important late winter food sources for many species, produces acorns only every two years. Including a variety of different mast-producing species increases the chances of a steady supply of mast throughout the year, every year. In most parts of the country, wildlife managers recommend that a woodlot managed for mast production should include about 50% native oaks of several different species, and about 50% other mast producing trees and shrubs, for a minimum of 10 different species.

Maintain an open canopy.

Pole stands with tight canopies of similarly aged overstory trees are the poorest mast producers. A stand managed for mast production should have about 48% sawtimber size (12 inches dbh or greater) trees, preferably larger. Many oaks don’t start producing maximum yields of acorns until they have reaches 20 inches or more. The rest should be a mix of ages and sizes, allowing sunlight to penetrate to the forest floor to encourage diverse understory growth and ensure space for overstory trees to develop large canopy sizes relative to their dbh. Studies have found that in many species, canopy size is a better predictor of the amount of mast produced than age or height. Additionally, the more of the crown surface that is exposed to sunlight, the more mast the tree will tend to produce. Thin trees as necessary to encourage the development of an uneven-aged, multi-species forest with an open canopy and a healthy understory.

For more information about managing woodlots for mast production, visit the Library.

The Society of American Foresters has defined the following 24 major forest cover types in the United States:

Forest Cover Types: Continental United States and Alaska

White-red-jack pine
Indicator species: eastern white pine, red pine, jack pine
Common associates: hemlock, aspen, birch, maple

Spruce-fir
Indicator species: spruce, fir
Common associates: white cedar, tamarack, maple, birch, hemlock

Longleaf-slash pine
Indicator species: longleaf pine, slash pine
Common associates: other pines, oak, gum

Loblolly-shortleaf pine
Indicator species: loblolly pine, shortleaf pine, southern yellow pines, except longleaf or slash pine
Common associates: oak, hickory, gum

Oak-pine
Indicator species: oak, pine, eastern red cedar
Common associates: gum, hickory, yellow poplar

Oak-hickory
Indicator species: oak, hickory
Common associates: yellow poplar, elm, maple, black walnut

Oak-gum-cypress
Indicator species: tupelo, blackgum, sweetgum, oak, southern cypress
Common associates: cottonwood, willow, ash, elm, hackberry, maple

Elm-ash-cottonwood
Indicator species: elm, ash, cottonwood
Common associates: willow, sycamore, beech, maple

Maple-beech-birch
Indicator species: maple, beech, yellow birch
Common associates: hemlock, elm, basswood, white pine

Aspen-birch
Indicator species: aspen, balsam poplar, paper birch, gray birch
Common associates: maple, balsam fir

Douglas fir
Indicator species: Douglas fir
Common associates: western hemlock, western red cedar, other firs, redwood, ponderosa pine, larch

Hemlock-Sitka spruce
Indicator species: Western hemlock, Sitka spruce
Common associates: Douglas fir, silver fir, western red cedar

Redwood
Indicator species: redwood
Common associates: Douglas fir, grand fir, tanoak

Ponderosa pine
Indicator species: ponderosa pine
Common associates: Jeffrey pine, sugar pine, limber pine, Arizona pine, Apache pine, Chihuahua pine, Douglas fir, incense cedar, white fir

Western white pine
Indicator species: western white pine
Common associates: western red cedar, larch, white fir, Douglas fir, lodgepole pine, Engelmann spruce

Lodgepole pine
Indicator species: lodgepole pine
Common associates: alpine fir, western white pine, Engelmann spruce, aspen, larch

Larch
Indicator species: western larch
Common associates: Douglas fir, grand fir, western red cedar, and western white pine.

Fir-spruce
Indicator species: fir, Engelmann spruce, Colorado blue spruce
Common associates: mountain hemlock, lodgepole pine

Western hardwoods
Indicator species: aspen, red alder, other western hardwoods

Chaparral
Indicator species: dwarfed trees and shrubs including pine, oak, cypress, madrone, fir

Pinyon-juniper
Indicator species: pinyon pine, juniper

Spruce-birch
Indicator species: White spruce, paper birch, quaking aspen, balsam poplar

Forest Cover Types: Hawaii

Native Forest
Mixed forest

To view an interactive map of the various forest cover types, please visit the National Atlas of the United States’s Forest Resources Map.

Different systems have been developed by organizations such as the World Wildlife Federation and the US Environmental Protection Agency/Commission for Environmental Cooperation to define different types of forest ecosystems of communities.

1. Domestic Apple (Malus domestica)

Although there are many beautiful native crabapples with exceptional wildlife qualities, none are quite as beloved by the local Homo sapiens as the common Domestic Apple. Descended from wild apple species in Central Asia, the domestic apple has been cultivated by humans for thousands of years and there are more than 7000 cultivars raised around the world today. Apples were among the first trees brought to North America by European colonists and the first known apple orchard in the New World was established near Boston about 1625. North America’s native wildlife also eagerly took to these sweeter and juicier relatives of the native crabapples, so in some areas humans must fight the deer, bears, turkeys, and other critters for the apple crop! Apple trees are also an important spring nectar source for European honeybees.

2. Common Hazel (Corylus avellana)

A Eurasian relative of America’s two native hazel species, the Common Hazel is more productive and has a larger nut than its American relatives, making it more suitable for commercial cultivation. In its native Europe, it remains one of the most important tree species used for coppicing and it is also widely used in hedgerows. The Filbert (Corylus maxima) is another Eurasian hazel that can be successfully grown in North America.

3. European Pear (Pyrus communis)

The European Pear and other pear species are native to Eurasia, where they have been cultivated for at least 3000 years. Like the domestic apple, they were among the first plants introduced to the New World by Europeans and like the apple, the sweet, juicy fruits are as popular with native wildlife as they are with humans and introduced species such as honeybees. The Asian Pear (Pyrus pyrifolia) can also be cultivated in some regions of North America.

More Good Non-Native Mast-Producing Trees and Shrubs

• Hardy kiwi (Actinidia arguta)
• European barberry (Berberis vulgaris)
• Mandarin orange (Citrus reticulata)
• Orange (Citrus sinensis)
• Cornelian cherry (Cornus mas)
• Cotoneaster (Cotoneaster sp.)
• Asian Persimmon (Diospyros kaki)
• Goumi (Elaeagnus multiflora)
• Burning bush (Euonymus alatus) – invasive in some regions
• European beech (Fagus sylvatica)
• Common fig (Ficus carica)
• English walnut (Juglans regia)
• Common medlar (Mespilus germanica)
• White mulberry (Morus alba) – invasive in some regions
• Apricot (Prunus armeniaca)
• Sweet cherry (Prunus avium)
• Sour cherry (Prunus cerasus)
• Domestic plum (Prunus domestica)
• Almond (Prunus dulcis)
• Peach/Nectarine (Prunus persica)
• Nanking cherry (Prunus tomentosa)
• Firethorn (Pyracantha sp.)
• Common grape (Vitis vinifera)