Good Evening,
Long time lurker. This is my first post.
I have a lot of poor quality clay soil. NW MT. At elevations from 4500 feet down to 3000 ft. 50 acres of high % grade hillside 20-40% varied. More acreage that is gently sloped, but topsoil is thin with clay underneath. I must not be using the right search terms on here or generally online. My question and then more detail below.
Question: I want to plant native or nativized trees/shrubs that produce a high root density and will provide "speedy" infiltration of organic matter underneath the topsoil in my clay. Make soil from the bottom up rather than top down. Plant high density pine/doug fir, irrigate some and then harvest every 5 years, planting new rotation between the rows. Plant fast growing trees like cottonwood/willow, irrigate, cut down, naturally kill the stumps and then plant again between rows. The idea is that in 10 years this soil will have XX% of additional organic matter in the top 3 feet of clay. Am i just describing a christmas tree farm? I can't quite grasp how to do it right or if it makes any sense at all.
Ultimate Goal: High quality Silvopasture for some of the property, managed woodland for the rest. I live here, so I want it to either be pretty or interesting to look at.
More Detail.
The property was logged 10 years ago. It was not logged with care in many ways.
Doug fir dominates, but Western Larch and Ponderosa make up 20% of the upper story trees. Lots of douglas maple, some other native berry trees. Lot of randoms. Ive planted orchard trees. But over all density of trees on avg is well below what could be supported.
Topsoil is very thin.
Ive done various "standard" permaculture things like swales, when clearing junk trees I make horizontal on grade piles with a few "stakes" made from junk trees, hugel mounds, appropriate thinning and planting, Ive made single rock height check dams on certain eroded slopes, bunch of other little experiments.
