I need your input on land!!!

I am currently looking at 36.00 acres to buy. I have home zone0 and zone 1 plan figured out. I need input on polycultures, cash crops, income that could be had on the rest of the property. A large creek runs through the center limiting even foot traffic. a bridge would have to be built to access the other half and bout 10 acres of zone 5 woodland. area around creek and the bottom land is what i need help with. it is highly erodable, silt sand, limited willow trees allong the bank. elluvial plains are flat enough to plow. ground is in grass now. and somewhat wet in places. this ground makes up between 15 and 20 acres.  i guess the ground isnt the problem its the big creek in the middle that floods. I didnt imagine this in the grand scheme of things in my master plan. trying to turn a problem into a benifit. i will try to post an arial photo soon.

It sounds like the creek is a major component of the land.  How wide/deep/fast?  Year round/seasonal?  If managed properly, it is an asset, as it provides a requirement for all life: water.  Could hydro-electric be utilized?

Here is some good info (the left hand navigation bar links to a couple dozen related pubs):

http://www.dnr.state.oh.us/water/pubs/fs_st/stfs16/tabid/4171/Default.aspx

How's fishing?

Just because a creek runs through your property does not mean you own it. My uncle after years of saying he wanted to build a pond and divert water from a creek on his property into it to fill it and of course once full overflow back into the creek. He decided to get a permit and in doing so opened up a whole can of worms because the county had recently decided that nothing could be built within 100 feet (I think it could be yards) either side of any free flowing creek. Of course I would think bridges might be an exception but he was told he could not even put in a walking trail or boardwalk of his own if he wanted to. This has nothing to do with wetland but "preservation" of the natural areas. He also found out through the grapevine that the county was considering through immiment domain putting in a walking/hiking trail along creeks such as the one in question. That motion was tabled for a later date (we are guessing economy). I said this to make sure you do your homework before you do any projects in or around the creek because you may find out there is a zone such as the one I mentioned or worse yet find out it is a certified wetland. Personally if there were regulations I felt I could not live with or would be too restrictive I would walk away and find another piece of land.

One big thing to consider (and it is not a deal breaker) is how high does the creek get during the rainy season and how long does it stay high once the rain stops. In other words where is the flood zone and how long does it stay wet. From the sounds of it there could be a wide floodzone which might limit plantings and be the reason for the highly erodable area as it could be a natural setteling point during high water. Now keeping all of this in mind my first thought would be propagate the willows along the creek. I would also make other plantings like rushes and reeds (or whatever grows in your area) to shore up the creek banks. Doing this will help with erosion as it creates a natural barrier to slow any run off and let the silt settle out before it gets dumped in the creek and washed away. Now this bottomland also sounds like a great place for crops assuming the rainy season and floods allow you time to plant and crops to grow without being drowned out.

If you look at it having that creek can be a blessing but also a curse. there is a lot you can do with water running through your property but there is also a lot of stuff potential regulations will not allow. Do your homework before you buy because there just may be a reason a piece of property with a creek (or any water) running through or bordering it is priced at a steal.

Aquaculture - it's already so wet, why not build a big pond?

thanks for the messages. Peter thanks for the heads up, I think i will start with a call to the USDA- NRCS office to get started on an 'official' investigation. I know mostly what your talking about. If a government agency calls it conservation than it is, everything else is up to their interpretation. I recently viewed a nrcs 'ad' on their website, it showed a guy mowing his conservation land I do know in my neck of the woods 'conservation' and 'production' are not to be mixed, or confused. it is "impossible" to do both by definition. and dont even think about bringing up words like polyculture, plant guilds, production ecologys, and the such. you will be met with a blind stare.
As for aguaculture i will have to do more research on the possiblities of the creek, trout? catfish sell well here. there is only one ok site for a dam and it would back water onto the neighbors property.
Also anyone know how to post a picture on here. I have an arial .bmp of the 36 acres but dont know how to post, maybe ill try the help section???

thanks all, please continue to post suggestions. knowledge makes us all wiser!

Aquaculture will be problematic where it floods, unless you can safely divert flood-waters away from the aquaculture pond(s).