We had a brush and log pile that broke down. Since we had already rented a small tractor for the day from the hardware store, it was very easy to ride over it to smash it down. As a result of our failure to use the logs in our fireplace, our garden then got tons of decomposed wood mulch once we took it around with the wheelbarrow. The wildlife are fine. We left a section untouched for another time and the bigger animals took up residence under our garden shed anyway.