BUTLER TWP — People who own homes, small parcels of land and large tracts can turn their properties into refuges for wildlife by replacing common but invasive plants with native plants.

That’s what environmental experts told the 300 people who attended a Pennsylvania Bureau of Forestry workshop at Butler County Community College Saturday.

Speakers at “Making the Most of Your Piece of Nature: A Sustainable Backyard Workshop” explained how replacing non-native, invasive plants with native species can benefit wildlife.

“Very informative for anybody who cares about nature,” is how Susan Canney of Butler described the workshop.

Laura Jackson, president of the Juniata Valley Audubon Society in Bedford County and an officer in the Woodland Owners of the southern Alleghenies, said native plants and trees like oak trees, milkweed, crabapple trees, winterberry holly and wild ageratum produce food for deer, turkey and attract insects that birds eat.

“If there’s just one tree you can plant, plant an oak tree,” she said.

White oaks are the most beneficial of the various types of oak trees.

“The white oak provides more food for birds, insects and caterpillars than any other tree,” she said.

Caterpillars feed on the leaves, but birds thrive on caterpillars and butterflies.

People think humming birds only consume nectar, but they eat insects for fat and protein, she said.

Milkweed attracts bees and butterflies. Crabapples provide food for many species of birds, including turkeys, and deer, she said.

People who own larger pieces of property can plant native plants to create butterfly gardens, but she said people should check with their municipalities for vegetation height limits.

The Audubon Society website provides information on what plants are native in different areas and where native plants can be bought, she said.

A problem she and her husband created at their home in Bedford County has been fatal to some birds.

She said they planted native plants around a water fountain outside a window, and birds have flown into the window and died.

Decals and screens placed on the outside of the window haven’t corrected the problem, but she said they will keep looking for a solution.

“We didn’t realize we were setting a death trap for birds,” she said.

Bird boxes provide birds with nesting places and brush piles and evergreen trees give birds cover in the winter, she said.

Dave Jackson, a Penn State University professor, said invasive plants and trees are common in yards and forests, but native plants that benefit the environment are also available.

More than half of the forest land in the state has at lease one invasive plant or tree.

“Sixty-two percent of our forests have at least one,” he said.

Japanese stilt grass, multiflora rose, Japanese knotweed, Oriental bittersweet vine, bush honeysuckles, autumn olive and tree of heaven are among the most common of the 79 invasive plants found in the state, he said.

Trying to remove invasive species by cutting, pulling and applying herbicides can work, but the work must be timed so plant seeds and roots are killed or the plants could regenerate bigger than they were in the first place, he said.

Seeds from invasive plants can be spread by birds that eat fruit from the plants and purchased soil. Dirt stuck in the wheels of farm equipment can also spread seeds, he said.

Invasive plants are not fed upon by insects and caterpillars and some sprout leaves earlier in the year than native plants. Invasive species can out compete native plants for sunlight, he said.

“They can slow or eventually halt natural succession,” he said.

The fruit from invasive plants contain mostly sugar and not the fats birds need to migrate, he said.

More than 500 species of animals and insects feed on oak trees and it takes 9,000 caterpillars to raise a clutch of birds, he said.