Cleaning up riverfront property

[Spiros]

I am planning to clean up two acres of riverfront property that I have been attempting to sell over the past two years. It seems that not everyone has the same vision that I do regarding property potential so....major redo. The property is littered with trees of all sizes and stumps. Besides grading and making the river easily viewable from the lot, I will have to remove all of these stumps (and most trees). What size excavator should I be looking at renting? Methinks a 46000 lb machine is a bit much but that will certainly get the job done. I will be using my TC33 for grading and minor dirt moving. Thanks in advance.

 

[EddieWalker]

I thought all excavators where measured in metric tonnes? I think that the smallest that would get the job done would be an 8 tonne machine, but my neighbor bought a 15 tonne machine when he first started clearing his land and that was very impressive. Most of the pros that I'm aware of use 20 tonne machines, but I think that would be overkill for just 2 acres. Since you mentioned stumps, the bigger the machine the better!!!!

Who are you renting from? Some of the local dealers where I live have some decent rental rates on bigger machines because nobody rents them. The little ones get rented the most.

 

[Tomtint]

I have a KX121 Kubota, I believe it’s about 10K pounds. It can remove a 12” oak stump in about 20 minutes. Pines much quicker. If they are in mud and rotted, I think it will be faster yet. ..Any conservation fruit loops going to get their panties all in a wad if you are digging up the river bank ?

 

[Steppenwolfe]

I have a KX121 Kubota, I believe it痴 about 10K pounds. It can remove a 12 oak stump in about 20 minutes. Pines much quicker. If they are in mud and rotted, I think it will be faster yet. ..Any conservation frost loops going to get their panties all in a wad if you are digging up the river bank ?

Good point. We have a cabin on 5 acres on a river. We can't touch anything within 50ft. Dead, yes, but no clear cutting. I have a Kubota KX 71 and it's great for removing stumps, but it does take some time and expertise.

 

[downsizingnow48]

When we sold our river property in Virginia, the real estate folks insisted on clearing all the vegetation to improve the "view" of the river. It hurt me to do that but after 6 months I gave in. Had a fellow with a forestry mulcher on a big skid steer come in. He got rid of everything up to 6" in a couple days including grinding stumps down to ground level or a bit below.

 

[Tomtint]

When we sold our river property in Virginia, the real estate folks insisted on clearing all the vegetation to improve the "view" of the river. It hurt me to do that but after 6 months I gave in. Had a fellow with a forestry mulcher on a big skid steer come in. He got rid of everything up to 6" in a couple days including grinding stumps down to ground level or a bit below.

Somewhere somehow..there is a box turtle, salamander, 3 wing moth, or pink donged tree frog that is crying foul.

 

[PILOON]

Heck around here our tree hugging municipal inspector wont even let us cut dead trees because the birdies like to perch on dead branches.

A neighbor got a permit to cut 12 dead spruce (in a dense tree stand) BUT the permit stipulates that he must re plant 12 saplings!
WTF, it is in a dense forested area. The trees died because they were choked out due to density.

Off topic a bit, I neglected to drop a dead silver birch (actually did not even know it was dead as the clump was so dense) and as a result the top 8-10 ft broke off and put a nice dent in my Toyota MR2 rear fender.

Interesting to hear the chain saws start up Friday noon as the city inspectors are off 'ti; Monday AM,

Shucks even if U do ask for a permit it usually takes 6 weeks B4 they issue it and generally only after the inspector has a look see.

 

[RNeumann]

If it’s for resale most would cut the trees and burn or remove the slash. No stump removal except to cut a little pad in the best view spot. Maybe a rough driveway up to it. Overworking the property with equipment typically doesn’t add value.
Call a logging company- they may make a trade- with only 2 acres I doubt they would pay you much if anything.

 

[Spiros]

Thanks for the advice everyone. I was considering renting from United Rentals. Having read your replies, RNeumann is definitely on to something. Drop the offending trees and brush, roll into the ravine and cut a little pad for the view.
Thanks for being the voice of reason.

 

[bridge4]

I wouldn't touch anything close to the river. A neighbor, a random town boater etc... is going to notice. They are going to call on you, and you are going to get fined more than any extra money you will make.

Lower your price the cost of the work, and then sell it to the buyer. Let THEM get in trouble. Unless of course you know for sure you can clear a riverfront area (which is illegal everywhere I've ever been in the U.S. without heavy permitting, reconstruction and $$$$$$). If it's legal, go ahead and don't think twice.


I had 6 acres in NC on the Intercostal, I had a similar situation and took the hit on the pay and let the next owner figure it out.

 

[Richard]

Do you need to check with TVA?

Here (Knoxville area) TVA owns all the water & beaches up to (forget) the 500' contour line (elevation I think).

You might have the beach on your property (as we do) however, TVA owns it and if you do something, they might take offense to it. I just recently talked to my TVA guy about two standing dead trees. Fortunately for me, the were not near the water but literally about 18" from the road so I think they'd fall under the county right of way.

None the less.... since they were road hazards, I pushed them over. There is a standing DYING cedar tree and I called to ask about taking that one out (it is also next to the road) he got very defensive... saying they don't want trees taken down, even dead trees unless they're at risk of hitting a structure.....and as it happens....cedar trees will stand dead for a longgggggggggggggggggggg time so though he didn't say "no", I could read it in his voice. He asked me to send him a couple pictures. (haven't done it yet, this is a current situation)

The Cedar tree has some green sprigs on one part at the top so it's not 100% dead, maybe 85% so I'm not expecting them to give me permission.

Now... if instead it's on the county right of way.... ?????

 

[buckeyefarmer]

Unless your name is Snyder, and you own the Redskins. He cut trees to get a view of the potomac and barely got his hands slapped.

 

[EddieWalker]

I'm not familiar with TN laws, so the advice that people are giving should be investigated to make sure it applies to what you want to do. Back when I lived in CA, I had a friend who cleaned up some of his land and built a pond where all the overgrowth and trees used to be. The list of government agencies that went after him for this is too long to list, but since he was a former City Planner for Oakland, and ran for office numerous times, he knew how to deal with them. He just said that the pond had been there when he bought the land decades ago, but had been damaged and then overgrown over the years. He was just restoring the land to what it was like when he bought it, not changing or modifying anything. And yes, he won that battle and then sued for his expenses and won that too.

If there is any question or concern about the government coming after you if you do anything on your land, I would just focus on cleaning it up and restoring it to what it was when you bought it. Probably do a lot of mowing and bush hogging. Tons of pruning and whatever else you can to improve the health of the trees. And if there are some busy body neighbors, maybe only work on it when they are at work, during the week, and clean up everything as you go so there isn't a mess for anybody to see and become offended by. Gotta play the game.