Hey Everyone,
I live 30 miles NW of Milwaukee. I bought a 33 acre property 7 years ago. It's adjacent to 60 acres of family land. Both the neighbor and I jointly entered a contract with the NRCS 5 years ago for brush removal (buckthorn), noxious weed control (garlic mustard), and tree establishment. We completed the contracts 2 years ago, but our properties still have lots of areas that need rehab, and the areas under contract still need attention and replanting. Adjacent to the neighbor's land is 120 acres that's under contract through the Wetland Reserve Program. There's about 650 acres in total that would be considered wild that our properties are adjacent to. Nearly all of the land is in the 100 year floodplain, so it will never be developed.
With that comes the challenge of managing some of the more aggressive invasives that do very well on our soils (neutral pH, calciferous, wet) such as buckthorn, reed canary grass, garlic mustard, honeysuckle, etc. Boxelder also thrives on our soils, whether or not that's invasive is a matter of perspective I suppose.
I came here for like minded habitat talk and advice. I started posting on the deer hunter forum earlier this year and met some friendly folks over there. Just looking for another source of information more focused on the upper Midwest.
Ideally I would like more property owners adjacent to me to get involved in habitat improvement. There is a 160 acre parcel owned by a hunting club adjacent to my property. I'm hoping some of those guys will catch on to what we're trying to achieve. That will help stave off the invasives.