I had one very close to the property line at my old farm. It was HUGE! It was tapped into my creek and I'm sure the roots were into the water table. It was pretty high there.
I should have taken it out the first year I was there. That whore spread her messyass spawn all along the creek. I kept this area of my farm natural as possible, with minimal intervention. It was roughly 27acres. It provided habitat for wildlife of all sorts. A large amount of my good bugs over wintered there. I did plant mixes of different forage plants, mainly for the deer, and wild Mexican Plumbs, again for the deer. I had a lot of Live Oak too away from the creek, so there was a pretty good size acorn crop for various animals.
I did have to burn the reeds that clogged the creek a few times. I just didn't kill those damn cottonwoods. I let them get too big and clearing would have been massive work. Like I needed more work,......Corporate American job with large area with mainly working from home 50hrs+, raising all our food, all the cattle's food and at one time, well over 400 cow n calf pairs...............and being a single Dad..
Messy bitches! FUZZ wuz everywhere!!!!!!!! When I'd cut firebreaks, the fuzz would clog up the radiator on the tractor.....well...the screen in front of it. Nasty!!!!