Garden for Wildlife to Reap Rich Rewards

I have the opposite problem. We bought 6 acres in north Texas and it is completely overgrown. Lots of birds and bugs, though. Most of the middle is drought killed. The undergrowth is so thick you can't walk across the property. There is poison oak and thorny vines all over the place, in addition to beauty berries, happy bamboo, wild honeysuckle and grapes, and many other species I would like to preserve if it weren't so tangled up. I don't see many viable options other than clear most of it (preserving the live oaks and redbuds) and start over. It's totally overwhelming. Any suggestions?

Yeah, sounds like you have a good deal of exotic invasives. Bit by bit I'd work to get rid of them. Management also depends heavily on what you've got, how you've got it, terrain, etc. Obviously. :)

It has a runoff creek that meanders through it, a great little limestone creek bed with a dry waterfall and tiny cave. Everything gradually slopes toward that and then drops down several feet in elevation. It is full of giant live oaks and eastern red cedar /juniper trees. They are straight as arrows, but most are dead. The rest is horribly invasive viney stuff with thorns and so on. I think a lot of it is just virgin forest, which is cool. There is a small clearing on the south end for our current trailer house and driveway that will be a barn or shop once our house is built. I am at the point now where I am seriously thinking about getting a bulldozer and just trying to avoid the healthiest of the trees. It makes me a little sick, but we have made woefully little progress using chainsaws and brush cutters. Maybe some goats......