bird of pardise in a guild?

Question...
We are in Pomerene AZ (up against the San Pedro river). Just getting started out there as far as gardening. We have an area that is around 14 feet in diameter, it has 2 mesguite trees and lots of "bird of paradise" and doing very well. Is the bird of paradise good to keep in there as we are adding plants (food)? This is our first attempt at creating a food forest and we are using this as our prototype.

As far as I know - Bird of Paradise is a legume (nitrogen fixer) so it should be fine.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caesalpinia_mexicana#Uses (yellow)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caesalpinia_pulcherrima (orange)

Established Bird of Paradise would make a decent wind break. You might have to cut it back somewhat if it is forming a thicket where you want other plants to grow. I would use it strategically to help nurse tree plantings and such.