Best Zone 4-5 Support Species/"Chop and Drop"/Biomass Species

I'm designing a perennial forest garden on central eastern Conneticut (near Roxbury) and am looking for herbaceous species that grow quickly and can be cut for mulch and to support that system, and for woody species that are ideally suited for coppicing and pollarding. I have experience in the drylands and tropics, but the temperate climate is a new ballgame for me.

The main food producing species so far considered are apples, paw paw, persimmon, chestnut, aronia, service berry, sea buckthorn, hazelnut, walnuts, mapl, etc.. Lower growing species include jersualem arthichokes, rhubarb, asparagus, comfrey, etc.

What species are the best support species you know of for the area? Ideal candidates are hardy,  fast growing, tolerate heavy pruning, preferably fix nitrogen.

Both species for the initial planting (for intercropping with or between bareroot trees) with full sun, and species for a mature, closed canopy system in years to come with partial to full shade would be valuable. Any other valuable food producing species recommendations for real winners in this area would be wonderful too!

Thanks so much in advanced!

For fixing Nitrogen, the best I can offer are Indian Potato (Apios Americana) & Hogpeanut.

I'll think on some others later. I'm at work now.

I’m in zone 5a but far west of you on Lake Superior. A couple woody pioneer species that come to mind are poplar (including balsam poplar and cottonwood) and red maple for trees, and willow & red-osier dogwood for shrubs. They will all sprout up again where cut. Red maple can be tapped like a sugar maple. Balsam poplar and cottonwood buds are used for making medicine, and any poplar wood can be used for growing certain mushrooms. Willow and the dogwood are useful for basketry and making willow water (to encourage cuttings to root).

For an herb layer, I like the above suggestions for nitrogen fixers. Leadplant is quick and easy to grow for another nitrogen fixing plant. Lupine and false indigo (Baptisia) take longer. My suggestions want sun, but the hog peanut will tolerate shade.

Brambles (raspberry, dewberry, blackberry) and grapes both produce food and biomass, since they grow quickly and want/need to be cut back.

Hi Samuel and welcome to Permies! We’re glad you’re here!
My friend Karl from https://foodforestcardgame.com/ could probably give you some great advice. Not only is he a great designer but he does it in RI. He has a lot of good resources and is very generous with his knowledge.

I use caragana for chop and drop support species as it's a nitrogen fixer and grows quickly with soft pliable twigs that are not thorny.  

Right now they are on the small side but eventually I am going to treat them like a landscaper would and keep them small and trimmed neatly a couple times a year.

There are a couple other shrubs that fit the bill too like seabuckthorn and Buffalo berry but they are to thorny and grow to slowly for my liking.

Mulberry isn't a nitrogen fixer , but  is a reliable producer of biomass, and easy to propagate.

I just bought a potted Prarie Mimosa which I hope to propagate widely.
I have "regular" mimosas volunteering hither and yon, but they do not transplant well so they are not everywhere I would want them to be.

J chokes are very good sources of biomass, and rabbits love them.
Ive read one report that growing the shoots undercover makes for a asparagus like vegatable.