I want to plant trees on the side of a north facing slope, on the shady side of a 4 story house that will grow to be large trees that will help to stabilize the slope. The slope is part of a 100 foot deep, wet and shady ravine. There are already many well established big leaf maples. Is there any particular type of tree that stands out as having outstanding benefits in improving slope stability. The soil is a mixture of fill, clay below and a sandy loam above.
No, if the slope takes off the trees will go with it - in fact their weight might contribute to the pushing of the upper layer down the hill. At Cama Beach State Park on Camano Island this week I walked beneath a big-leaved maple that is lying over the beach and water, due to it having slid down the hill recently. If the site conditions there appear to threaten your house an engineering solution is required.
OK, the weight issue is one well worth considering and suggests I keep the plantings at the top of the hill small in size. However, I still think it would be beneficial to plant some large trees at the bottom of the hill, do you have any suggestions for species?
Vegetation and slope stability via Wikipedia -- my suggestion is to read some of the referenced works by the Wikipedia article before proceeding.
