i have two small wooded areas that I'm about to extend by planting a variety of trees: pecan, mulberry, pine, etc. There aren't many trees in it right now and a couple of them are very large cottonwood trees, known for blowing all of that fluff into air-conditioning systems. Should I bother to cut them down, which will be somewhat expensive, especially since there are other cottonwoods in the neighborhood anyway, so I won't be 'getting rid of' the problem.

Is there any benefit to cottonwood trees? Should I just keep them and enjoy the fact that they are nice, big shade trees?