Driftwood ID help

[Jojo205]

I found a piece of “driftwood” near a river by my house... it was on the shore by this tree. The only thing is that it had cut ends , is it safe to use?? TIA!
Sorry about the terrible picture quality!!

 

[Fishproblem]

Are those leaves off the same tree? I'm not an arborist, but if you look up trees native to your area and compare leaves, that'll get you on the right track to figuring it out.

 

[Jojo205]

Are those leaves off the same tree? I'm not an arborist, but if you look up trees native to your area and compare leaves, that'll get you on the right track to figuring it out.

The leaves are from the same tree I think.
I looked it up and looked in all the nature guides I have but the closest tree I could find was red alder, but this tree didn’t have cones..?