Question about tree species habitats

[jeffreythree]

I am the proud new owner of piece of property in northeast Texas, Red River county to be exact.  It is 17 acres and has a 3 acre pond that seasonably grows to a larger size.  I have identified post oak(6 are 36"+DBH), pignut and shagbark hickory, slippery elm, green and texas ash, honey locust, pine, and some gnarly old osage orange.  Because of the small size, I think that the expense of a forester would be prohibitive compared to the gains.  A section of it has been logged 3-5 years ago, poorly done in my opinion with damaged and dead trees(critter homes) all through that section.  I have read and researched as much as possible so far, and the NRCS soil type website has confused me.  All of the trees seem to be growing on the wrong soils.  I have post oaks and shagbark hickory growing in the logged area, which is sandy loam where pine would do well and probably why it is the logged section.  There are also a large number of standing dead oaks in this area.  I have lots of pignut hickory and post oak growing in a clay soil willow oak and water oak should like, I have not even found a willow or water oak yet.  A third area that hickory should like is just a bunch of ash and elm.  The fourth soil type on the property is covered by or is seasonally flooded by the pond and has standing and fallen dead pine in the flood area, it is a marginal soil for growing trees on as it is heavy clay.  Should I go ahead and hire a forester?  Does Texas have any free programs for management?.  I have looked and most of the forestry here is geared towards pine production and the one program I found is for wildlife management, which I plan to take advantage of.  I love the diversity and wildlife, but do want to harvest some timber for my own use through culls/thinning while improving the stand.  Thanks for any help or guidance.

[Tom]

Welcome to the Forestry Forum, Jeffreythree.
We have Texas foresters here that will be along shortly, but, I would suggest that you contact your County Forester for initial, on-site, advice.

He can advise you of Foresters in your area and may even write a plan for you to follow.

[ibseeker]

Your local State Forester might also be able to enroll you in some type of program that gives you a tax break. In TN it's called the "Greenbelt" program and it saved me a bunch of money on property taxes.