Attached IMG is what i have cleared, the area does extend back but narrows into a few seperate paths. The ground is heavy clay and hard and does not soak
water up much at all. The property has slight contour so water flows across surface eventually to stream. I knew i wanted to clear the understory out to give us more use of the 4acres we have which is mostly wooded. I kept all mature
canopy trees which are maple, poplar,
black locust, elm and sweetgum. The understory is
alot of briar and other unknown shrubs. I plan to keep my clearing to just about what you see in the img.
My plan was to create some channels to get water running
underground but that crosses our septic area so maybe outside my skill set. The other plan was to chip/ shred and spread as mulch around cleared area for a few yrs to build up soil and organic matter. The ground cover in this area pre my clearing was non existant, only shrubs. The area also has no leaf litter, my asumption is the surface water after the heavy rains we have had moves the leaves our of this area and down toward stream. I will take a closer look tomorrow on areas I have not cleared and follow this post up.
Did i get carried away on my
tractor tearing the area up with the front end loader? Im feeling a bit uneasy about my plan or lack of plan.. i now have this cleared forest area but not clear on what i
should do next. Being damp clay soil the ground is already tightly bound and hard, did I compact the ground even more running tractor through? I had plans to use the PTO to run a 4" chipper in the area as well so more tractor traffic around the area to spread it etc.
Long term goals for area, play area for kids, rebuild soil, plant new understory of
natives, get water moving from areas that flatten and pool water after rains. Creat paths and "nooks" in the forest. We do have
deer through here so need to be considering deer resistant plants... again my soil is just pure clay.. no real top soil loam.
Picture of site 
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