It sounds like you know a heck of a lot more about timber management than I do. I am in kind of a weird/lucky situation in that my farm (70 acres)is bordered on the east by my parent's (35 acres), my gradparents' (65 acres) to the south, and a large creek to the west. My farm has 46 acres currently in production. The SE corner of is about 15 (guesstimate) acres that used to be pasture that have been growing in with autumn almond (I think that is the name it is basically a bush), cedar pines, weeds and grasses.The NW corner is a stand of sycamore trees, hedge apples, and a bunch of large walnut trees($). I am thinking of continuing to let the pasture reforest, except I am going to limit the growth of large deciduous trees to mast producing trees and I want them sparse so that the undergrowth is thick.I want to put about 25 acres in blue stem long grass (4'-6' tall), let 10 or so more acres in the NW to reforest like I mentioned before, and put in food sources (alfalfa on someand rotating corn/soybeans)on the rest. The alfalfa won't be a problem as I know a horse farm that would love to have some more field to plant, but I will have to plant the corn and soybeans. Those will stand all year just as feed for the wildlife. That is what I am thinking right now anyway. I will let you know if that changes drastically after talking with someone who actually knows what they are talking about.

My parents' place has a 5 acre pond, 20 acres in woods of varying age and density, and 8 acres in alfalfa (the rest is yard and house). Eventually I would love to create much more habitat on my grandparents' farm as well. I just don't know if I could convince them to do anything. They are old and stubborn.