Steven,
Having inherited a couple dozen 35 foot (11 m) Russian olives I agree with how gnarly and nasty they are. However, consider how they may be placed. One example is on the west side of your property, they are pretty tough against the wind. Are they away from the house such that they may actually be helping stablilize the site while fixing nitrogen? The fruits
feed birds- I see the robins picking up the fallen berries now after a cold snap the last four days. I cut many of the olives as they were overgrowing more desired (in my plan anyway) blue spruce which are bird havens. Those branches and trunks are all now buried in
hugelkultur raised beds. I had the stumps ground and somewhat surprisingly, I had loads of suckers sprouting from the
roots. I cut them last fall. Since this plant is fixing nitrogen in the soil, I figure to let the suckers grow for the season and chop them again. The year-old sprouts aren't spiny yet and quite flexible. I figure to let them fix nitrogen until they run out of steam and die. Most of the olives on my place are 45-48 years old. Several that I took down were suffering various forms of rot so it appeared they weren't going to stand too many more years anyway. The smaller branches went through the chipper and became part of the
mulch on the same hugelbeets containing the parent trunks. Plenty of growth of desired plants on these beds during year one and I'm expecting even better this year. I believe this was trying to make the problem (overgrown or dying Russian olives) into the solution- fodder for
hugelkultur beds.
I had a few enormous elms and/or elm stumps on the place as well. I'm assuming you're talking about Chinese/Siberian elm. Not exactly my favorite either with all the dead
wood that accumulates every year. My elms in Casper used to suffer badly from broken branches in Wyoming's
land hurricanes. Up here, most died in the intense early season cold spell that affected the east side of the Rockies from central Montana down to at least as far as Colorado Springs about four years ago. However, once again, can you not start to use trimmings for chips? Gather the fallen leaves and move them where you need them for mulch. I had some huge Chinese elms when I lived in Wyoming and that's pretty much the duty they performed in addition to most welcome summer shade. All of mine here in Montana were killed by the cold spell and were standing dead leviathans. They are all in hugelbeds now. Again, I don't
think these are very long lived trees so as some show signs of dying back, those are your first candidates for removal, and making use of the wood for hugelkultur,
firewood, and the branches for woodchip mulch. Eventually your plan for your property may involve removal and replacement but at least let these two "less desirable" trees help you in establishing greater things for your land.
A tree that might serve as a decent replacement in some places could very possibly be the
black locust. I know it's used in Idaho in mined land reclamation so it clearly can handle the dryness and alkalinity common to sagebrush country. Amur maackia tree is another nitrogen fixer you might be able to use in your long term planning. Again, tough as nails but more slow-growing than black locust. Both could serve to help in soil building by fixing nitrogen, adding leaf litter and such. Check out the black locust section on the forums for lots of ideas how
people are using them in their long term
permaculture plans. Using these nitogen fixing trees, even including some of your Russian olives in "strategic" locations could allow you to begin modifying your site for more desired fruit bearing species. Consider Caragana (Siberian
pea shrub) as a nitrogen fixer that grows in shrub form. Many people here in the Helena Valley and other places in Montana use this in shelterbelts/windbreaks. It can take the dryness and alkalinity of your site. It was popular in Wyoming and Nevada when I lived there.
I would urge you not to be too quick to take all the sagebrush, either. Its extensive
root system causes it to serve many surrounding plants by providing "hydraulic lift", pulling
water from deeper subsoil to the topsoil where other plant can access some of the water. Consider how some areas left to sage and any native plants associated with it may serve the greater good on your property. Pockets of sage on the place could well serve as habitat islands for many desirable species of insects and birds. Besides, the smell of sagebrush after a rainstorm is
IMO one of the most pleasant odors one can experience. Poor folks back east will never get to enjoy that they we do out here in the west.
Hope this helps. I've lived in sagebrush country for the last 38 years and wouldn't trade it. Getting things to grow is often a huge challenge.