There are several ways to reforest land, each with its own benefits. One of the easiest ways to reforest is call “old field succession.” In old field succession, you just leave the land alone and slowly the seeds from surrounding trees will begin to sprout.
As the plan evolves, there are several questions that involve both practical matters and ethics. For example, there are several thickets of Chinese privet (Ligustrum sinense). This is an invasive shrug that congregates on the edge of disturbed land. Should we cut down the privet to free up space for our desired native species, or should we just plant what we want and hope the new trees out-compete the invasive privets. There is also a pretty princess tree (Paulownia tomentosa) on the eastern edge of the pasture. Cut this down or leave it? Another interesting question is about poison ivy. This leafy vine is native and provides berries that are eaten by wildlife. Poison ivy tends to grow well on the edge of disturbed lands, and this pasture has several trees with thick vines of poison ivy ascending up the trunks. The wildlife seems to love the berries, but the urushiol oil causes an extremely itchy rash in humans. Do we kills these vines, at least for the time we are working nearby? Or do we leave them since we know the berries provide food for birds and other animals?
There are some benefits to choosing a more active management plan than old field succession. We can speed up the seeding of new trees and influence the type of tree that germinates first. One very cost-effective approach is to gather, store, and plant acorns from the nearby local oaks. The plot already has a few chestnut oaks (Quercus Montana), and at least one each of blackjack oak (Quercus marilandica) and willow oak (Quercus phellos). The best time to gather acorns is in the fall as the acorns are falling from the trees. Sweetgum trees can also be planted from seeds.