I'm much more in favor of native species for planting than non-native. It's my extreme reaction to the mindset that anything that might grow in an area without extreme human intervention is a weed.
Now that I have that off my chest, I'm happy that you're considering some native trees and shrubs.
The moment I set my eyes on a snipe, a split second after one of my fourth grade students spotted it, it was GONE. I have never seen anything exit so emphatically.

That was my only encounter with a snipe. Its departure helped me identify it as much as its field marks, which I got a poor look at.
Michael Brown
MBEB1215 at delphi.com
Puyallup, WA