Luckily managed to arrive at such a place recently. Beautiful! Besides all the wild blackberrys growing over too many spots.^^
Sounds like a real great idea, such areas are highly important and come with a lot of life along inside. :)
Also had similar stuff on my mind, but in germany stuff like this is a little more complicated and if somewhere worldwide - you are in need of someone reliable taking proper care.
But if you want real wildlife, i would not use woodchips or similar (or whats the plan besides the "grow barrier" in addition to some saved water and some more smaller visitors) at all to be honest. Let it grow, help out a little, but in the end it's always - the strongest survives. Besides it is mass bleckberry growing all over, then you need to intervene. :D

Also think about trees and their growth => growing shade, maybe influencing the ground and stuff like this.

specifically the flora native to the area
100%!

My plan was to spread seeds, help out a litle and just let it happen. But i recommend you to cut down some growing trees if you want real diversitiy since if they are many and grow big enough, there will be not much diversity left on the ground. If you're interested - will post some details in this term about this place soon, since here nobody did take any care for at least 8y at some places, up to 30y+ at others.^^

What about the cost for 1 acre of land at your place?