I couldn't agree with you more. It is nice that the science is slowly coming around to acknowledging the importance of these non-living elements, more and more I see snags and stumps being left in place in conservation areas where they might have been removed in the past. It just makes intuitive sense - we need to provide as close to the natural habitat as possible to have as healthy and sustainable of a mini-ecosystem in our gardens as possible. This is the way to totally eliminate reliance on fertilizers, pesticides, etc., needed when the balance is out of whack. GREAT article!