To Mound or Not??

I cannot decide if I should make (gentle, not hugel) planting mounds in my forest garden design! I've been reading up on garden design a lot, and there are clearly a lot of pros and cons.

Reasons it might be a good idea:
-The garden will be installed in what is now pastureland. It's pretty compacted. I plan to condition the soil with cover cropping and mulching for up to 2 years before installing the garden, but some modest mounds could also help build up a deeper soil bank that drains well.
-The ground is pretty flat (not great for swales), but it does pond in some areas, suggesting poor drainage.
-The water table gets pretty high in spring and early summer. I'm not sure how high under parts of the pasture, but probably a few feet down, maybe as far as 5 feet. (In at least one area I'll be putting in a rhizome barrier to at least 24", so I'll be able to dig out and make sure it's not THAT shallow, at least!)
-Some of the plants I would like to install (like hardy figs, arctic kiwi, hazels) detest heavy soil or wet feet. The soil is a silt loam and already has 3% organic matter, which isn't terrible, especially with some conditioning. It's primarily the ponding that concerns me. Rather than large earthworks, I could build broad, gentle mounds that are ~6-12" high just for these plants.
-We have wet spring seasons and overall good annual rainfall, but sometimes very dry autumns with droughts. I could be strategic about slowing drainage around mounds (even without swales or dug-out pits), so maybe I won't have to rely quite as much on irrigation during dry spells.

Reasons not to do it:
-Maybe the cover cropping, fertilizing, and mulching will be sufficient at improving drainage, so it just won't be all that necessary or do much more for me.
-I know that doing this poorly can create new drainage problems (like if the soil I install doesn't match what is under it).
-It's a lot of work and modification (and for imported soil, expense), so in my opinion, it needs to really pay off to be worth doing!!

Thoughts/suggestions??