We recently bought a house in Dublin, OH, with a wooded back yard. Over a span of 16 years, the previous owner allowed grape vine and poison ivy to grow up the trees and into the canopy. Several trees died and fell over, pulling down many of the neighboring trees and making a real mess. I've cleared out most of the grape vine and poison ivy. (Some was so thick that I had to use a chain saw to cut through it.) We'd now like to plant some new trees. The ground is 2" of "topsoil", 10" of yellow clay, and grey clay below that. It's very mucky in the spring and when it rains. Currently, there are mostly scraggly locust and anemic beech growing there.

Does anyone have any recommendations on the types of trees to plant? I've heard river birch may survive.