Repost from another forum I interact with hopefully this helps or is at least my general approach. It’s state and location dependent....
Norway Spruce (although not native), are one of the best source of long term screen due to lack of transparency benefits (better than whites or blues, but its tree specific, genetic variation is certainly a factor)..the ability to survive in various soil types to include clay and sand and develop at a medium growth rate - Norway is a good choice. There are other options, and I would say White Spruce (soil and aspect dependent) tend to do better in dry and open terrain (mulch trees to help keep moist)... be sure to care for them (water during summer). Integration of other mid height plantings like willows, rangeland grasses or otherwise might be a consideration to create some depth to your screen. In field settings I normally use willows with a grass, that combination works well, but is seasonal. Long term you need to also think about disease as there is a canker that is present that impacts spruces, Ive seen it moreso on norways and blue, but it will attack whites and kill the tree, so its not just a plant and walk away situation. Sometimes think about planting a staggered row with norways and offset with thuja green giants (which generally speaking are way better for smaller mammals), wait I suggested a hybrid non-native again- sorry.
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