Pears can be just as much trouble. Namely fireblight. Any place with warm wet springs will be prone to fireblight. Most European pears are highly susceptible. Asian and sand pear crosses less so.

Local Nursery Yes!!! Plant for the Zone you're in. plant 3 or more that all pollinate each other in case one dies you still have 2. I dig the holes deep 3 x the size of the root ball . I mix in sand and rotted composted manure pit it back in the hole add dirt mix water to pack in dirt no air pockets. Tamp down with foot and fence.

4 T posts 5 ' of wire each side wire one corner so you can unwire and go in to prune / fertilize etc.

Write your tree variety on a paint stick put on the wire because the tree labels blow off. Put on tree wrap tree sleeves in the fall. Water a lot.

Plant for the zone you are in. Plant disease-resistant varieties. Some disease problems will vary with the particular year & season. Also, any apples recommended by/from the west should be researched. The disease pressure is totally different past the tree-belt. I would recommend not planting anything that is fireblight prone unless you enjoy spraying. I have seen entire orchards taken out by fireblight in the east. The dry, arid climate of the west does not promote disease growth like in the humid green USA. Another point: just because an apple is "local" does not mean it will do well without a lot of attention.
Skip the dwarfs if you are planting for wildlife. Also skip any nursery that cannot tell you what rootstock the apple is grafted/budded to.
Do diligent research. Those apple trees can be a long-term investment. Some of the trees in the orchards from my childhood had been in production for decades. Now some trees in commercial orchards don't last a decade before they are replaced with the next "better than Honeycrisp." Also, some things that would be a problem if you were using for the table or especially trying to market them will not be any concern to the wildlife. Flyspeck, sooty blotch, small size, bruises easily: the critters don't care.
Look at Arkansas Black, Enterprise, Sundance, King David (those hang seemingly forever), Stayman, Virginia Beauty.
Grandpa's Orchard & Schlabachs are good. I have love/hate relationship with Cummins. Starks will give rootstock info if you buy in commercial quantity, otherwise just generic dwarf, semi-dwarf which tells you generalized size potential but nothing about the rootstock pros/cons. Also Adams County Nursery out of Pennsyvania but they are really proud of their stuff. If your extension agent is in a county where there is some fruit production they can be insightful, otherwise they will usually just be quoting from your state "How to grow fruit trees in your garden" publication.
A few apples are self-fruitful. The vast majority need cross-pollination. If you have a triploid (such as Stayman I mentioned above) they will need cross-pollination but are pollen-sterile so will not be able to pollinate another tree. Some popular varieties that are triploid are jonagold, mutsu, winesap, spigold (great flavor!) & maybe sweet 16 (I don't recall for sure). Triploids tend to make large trees, comparatively speaking to others on the same rootstock.

I have built a fence around my apple and pear trees. Things went well until we good so much snow that the rabbits got thru thru the 2x4 inch holes in the fence and had lunch on my tree trunks. I lost four apple tree last year. I did get some growth from lower on the tree trunks and they are now the leaders. I cut off the dead tree trunks so energy would go to the new leader. Not sure if this works.

A couple other varieties to look at would be Arkansaw aka Arkansas black twig (late season) or Liberty or William's Pride if you want something early but that one is basically a summer apple as well as Pristine (although it gets some fireblight but not bad; it can be pruned out). There are more if you want to do some work but those listed is where I would start.
For rootstocks I wold look at 111 (m, mm, or emla version) first for a rootstock. Depending on your soil B118 might be good but not so much in clay soil. Also 106. Its much more productive and earlier bearing than 111, but needs better soil and more careful planting. 7 is smaller & often needs a post planted deep with it to keep it from leaning as it gets older. It is still tall enough to keep some fruit out of damage height. It is not so big as 118 or 111. The most carefree & troublefree & most adaptable is 111 or seedling but they are bigger & slower to come into production.

you have cedar apple rust there? if so good luck trying to grow apples.
RR

Plenty of good varieties that are cedar apple rust resistant, just need to get away from the "grocery store varieties". We grow roughly 2 dozen different apple varieties and only need to spray 2 of them for CAR.

I've always thought people who have ornamental cedar trees should be prosecuted for harboring a community nuisance/menace.

Me too!!!

Like most fruit diseases cedar apple rust affects different varieties to different degrees. There are a lot of varieties that cedar or quince rust have little to no affect on.

I would be very reluctant to plant an apple tree I had never tasted. Don 't want to wait 3-7 years and find out I don't like that particular variety.

Quince and apple both fulfill the secondary stage of cedar rust. Therefore quinces are not a threat to apples.

How do pear trees do in wet areas?

Not swamp, but low ground that stays damp is maybe a better description.

Pears tolerate wet feet better than stone fruits and even apples but no fruit tree like continually wet feet. Can you raise a berm to plant in?

I have seen wild pears growing in heavy clay wet ground that is flooded during the wettest months with no ill effect.

Cedar-apple rust & quince rust are not the same. Quince rust will alternate host not just between cedar & quince.

quince rust affecting apples:

pic from Dr Dave. Rosenberger, Cornell U.

I have higher ground that's not where id like to put them.

There are some humps in my lower ground that I hadn't thought of until you posted about a burm.

Thanks for the info!

Hump Treeee

One rarely sees apples in low wet locations.....for two reasons. First is they don't like to have wet feet.......some root stocks are better than others.

The second, and more important......in most locations, apples are always at risk of getting zapped in the Spring by frost, which tends to hit worst in low lying areas.

For both reasons, you tend to see apple orchards in well drained upland locations. Well drained as to moisture and cold air.

I also agree with the notion of trying an apple before you plant it. With anything but an absolute known, that is always an adventure. For example, I've been thinking of planting a Golden Russet and/or a Grimes Golden........but a guy getting his hands on one to try is not so easy to do. Same with nearly all of the old heirloom varieties. I have seen where at least one small, regional nursery has some open house days in the fall, where taste testing is offered. That would be ideal.

Some orchards will send gift boxes with unusual varieties of apples (maybe pears too). They are expensive compared to grocery store varieties but it is a way to try some you might not otherwise have access too.
However, the original post inquired about fruit for wildlife. They are much less finicky. As for me, I have had the privilege to try peaches, nectarines, grapes, muscadines, apples, & blackberries (and maybe some that I've forgotten) that are not available to the public or commercial trade. It has been a very tasty experience.
Also, some of the best tasting fruits are not necessarily the best looking fruits. Anyone who has had the old stripey, original "hawkeye" red delicious versus the the modern deep-red, full-colored clones in the grocery stores will tell you beauty only runs skin deep. Looks sells and for decades fruit varieties have been selected for "marketability" often at the expense of full flavor.