What to do with this land feature

I have 40 acres in Michigan that I hunt and throughout the middle of our property we have 1" dia trees. Our main path leading into the property runs right through this area and I feel wide open when walking on it. I thought about hinging the trees but they are so small I don't feel it will cover a lot. Does anyone have any tips on how to thicken this area up or how to improve it?

North and South of the path going N East to S West

 

Trying planting some cover screening. Egyptian wheat is one to consider.

 

Can that be spreaded within the trees or would it have to be planted in tilled ground?

 

You will probably need to till the ground or at least use hand tools

 

I guess I could brush hogg the edge of the path and plant one row to border the woods. It gets pretty wet on this path since it runs along a hill, not sure how egyptian wheat does in wet areas.

 

What kind of trees are they?

 

I think a lot of it is Hawthorn

A lot of it is Hawthorn, not sure what else is mixed in. We have a lot of apple, maple, beach, and chestnut trees but most of them are further west. This area is a lowland with a creek running through it, the path I walk back sits between wetland and the bottom of a large hill with these trees on both sides.

 

If small enough to bush hog...me personally I'd clear the whole thing....one year plant soybeans heavy that a RR....keep them sprayed and then frost seed Switchgrass into it the follow winter/spring during freeze/thaw.

Not a big fan of access/routes going through center of a property personally as well.

 

Our property is Hilly and is shaped like an hour-glass. We have a funnel of dry land with water on each side. The idea of clearing the trees is interesting because I can reshape the property's tree structure. We have a lot of apple trees that have been swallowed up by these scrub trees.