We were in a similar situation, purchasing 295 acres three years ago. Since this was our first round with habitat work, it was beneficial to bring in a consultant to draw up a plan. Super helpful to get a jumpstart on education, and confidence when it came to cutting 100y old trees, etc.
I can’t speak to your situation, but here are some things that we have done:
This year we converted 70 acres of pasture/hay into crop ground with a view of converting to CRP eventually. In the meantime this gives us a higher rent. Plus, this fall it kept the deer on our farm browsing the harvested beans until dark instead of just passing through the pasture onto the neighbors before dark.
We have been cutting hedge to sell as fence posts. Great for my boys to learn how to run a chainsaw.

Plus it is amazing how the deer hammer the new growth on the “mineral stumps”. And the downed tops are great for cover.
We used some old field management practices on 20 acres by spraying the cold season grasses (brome) and releasing the seed bank. This has been the quickest and cheapest win to improve the habitat for wildlife. HIGHLY recommend it.
We are also using EQIP monies to cover some of our timber work. We’ve been approved, but have yet to receive first payment. We’ll see how it goes.
This forum has been super helpful, as well as a couple other habitat forums and YouTube channels.
Good luck! Have fun and enjoy the journey!
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