Removing button willows/elbow bushes from Cypress Brake

[HDC]

I have two long and fairly narrow cypress brakes that have large trees on the edges and a few in the middle. With the exception of those trees, everything else is completely covered in button willows that are thick and way over my head. They are so thick, a sparrow would have difficulty getting threw them to the water. When the Tallie floods (if it ever does again), the water gets high enough that nothing but the tops are above water and the ducks use the brakes. When the Tallie is in the banks, there are no ducks in the brakes.

I want to remove the button willows when the brakes dry this Summer and either work on establishing moist soil grasses or plant something like Jap Millet.

Anyone had experience doing this? If so, can you provide any advice regarding things to do and not to do? Methods to use, etc.?

This will be my first rodeo with this type of project.

[jwarwick]

If you have the money and if it was an ideal world...

1. After it dries out, hire a low ground pressure dozer to push out the button willow, and while you're at it- knock down any junk trees (sweetgum, hackberry, sycamore, etc.) that might shade out your crop. Also while you have the dozer- work the drainage on the downstream end out to the nearest ditch (only if you're gonna do #2 below)
2. try to modify drainage (install a water control structure) to make water flow/ponding, controllable so you can hold water in winter and release water in the spring/summer.
3. disc the ground up and plant jap millet around August 1... pray for rain.
4. close structure in early winter (maybe late Nov.) to catch some water... pray for ducks.

Wild guess- you will probably spend a couple thousand per brake. Not bad if you own the land. If you're leasing... I would want a good bit of reimbursement from the landowner AND a long term lease.

let us know what you do, good luck

[JaMak84]

Might want to go by your local NRCS office before you start manipulating a wetland and make sure everything is on the up and up. What you consider wetland enhancement may not be how the COE views it. What your describing doesn't sound like that big a deal, but it's better to be safe than sorry in my opinion. I'd also suggest getting a soil sample before you bring in a dozer to make sure you don't have a sand layer under the surface. If you have a bunch of sand covered by a clay top soil you could punch a hole in that top layer with a dozer and ruin a good thing.

[HDC]

I actually am planning on getting one of those bobcats with a grinder/tree shredder attachment on the front to grind and shred everything. That way it will not disrurb the soil as much.

[SWAG]

Good advice there, go talk to your DC at the NRCS office before doing anything involving a wetland

[DanP]