How would you guys clear this land? *Pics*

[ShowroomShine]

I've got about 6 acres of property that I need cleared for our future house and horse pasture. I last bush hogged this property in 2007, since then nothing has been done to it. I've attached pictures of how the property looks now. The trees arent very big, but there are hundreds and hundreds of them.

I'm trying to keep this as cheap as possible to leave more money for the house and pasture. I'd love to pay someone to clear and haul it off, but I bet that'd be $6-8K.

I cant burn the brush, I'll be within 1000ft of homes so I'm not allowed to burn that close.

I've thought about getting a forestry mulcher to come in and mulch it all for me, but I'm concerned that the stumps left under the ground will cause problems later down the road and not allow grass to grow properly.

Thoughts?

 

[deezler]

How much of the property do you really need to clear? All 6 acres? 6 acres is a lot of area, indeed.

If you could get started with just 2 or 3 cleared acres, I would probably brush hog everything you can get to first. Then I'd rent a mini-excavator with a hydraulic thumb and just rip all the trees out. Just leave 'em laying on the ground and keep moving fast. You can come back later to cut them up or push into piles with your tractor.

 

[sea2summit]

What is your definition of clear? Grass growing or all the small stuff in itty bitty pieces?

I'd come up and do the later in a weekend for half you what you think it would cost

 

[roadhunter]

Might be worth it to have a state forester come out and take a look at it with you to come up with a long term plan to manage the trees on the property. Which species to keep and which to remove as well as looking at each individual part of the property could be helpful.

Trees are good in so many ways and can help create privacy in places with homes nearby so you may want to keep some of them.

 

[dickfoster]

I've got about 6 acres of property that I need cleared for our future house and horse pasture. I last bush hogged this property in 2007, since then nothing has been done to it. I've attached pictures of how the property looks now. The trees arent very big, but there are hundreds and hundreds of them.

I'm trying to keep this as cheap as possible to leave more money for the house and pasture. I'd love to pay someone to clear and haul it off, but I bet that'd be $6-8K.

I cant burn the brush, I'll be within 1000ft of homes so I'm not allowed to burn that close.

I've thought about getting a forestry mulcher to come in and mulch it all for me, but I'm concerned that the stumps left under the ground will cause problems later down the road and not allow grass to grow properly.

Thoughts?View attachment 464306View attachment 464307View attachment 464308

I had five acres done with forest mulchers and a hand crew. It ran about 10 grand. However that included taking down four large trees 3 black oaks and one Douglas fir right up next to the house and bucking the logs to 16'. They also limbed up the trees that were left standing. This was in California where everything costs more. The results were excellent and left the place looking park like.

One small thermonuclear device would also work if you're clearing everything. I think the Russians still have a sale going for these.

 

[ShowroomShine]

How much of the property do you really need to clear? All 6 acres? 6 acres is a lot of area, indeed.

If you could get started with just 2 or 3 cleared acres, I would probably brush hog everything you can get to first. Then I'd rent a mini-excavator with a hydraulic thumb and just rip all the trees out. Just leave 'em laying on the ground and keep moving fast. You can come back later to cut them up or push into piles with your tractor.

Need to clear all 6 for the house and pasture.

I can do the mini ex thing, but then I have to do something with the trees. I dont want large piles of brush sitting around my property.

 

[ShowroomShine]

What is your definition of clear? Grass growing or all the small stuff in itty bitty pieces?

I'd come up and do the later in a weekend for half you what you think it would cost

Needs to be clear enough to build a house, horse barn, and pasture on.

 

[dmccarty]

Hard to tell from the photos but if there is enough pine trees you might get a logger to take them for chips. I doubt they would pay much for the chips though but you would get the trees down. Then you have the problem of what to do with the small stumps...

There are operators here who have a big mulching head on skid steers or large wheeled front end loaders. They can mulch up the trees and the stumps to some point underground but you will have to pay these guys.

Some of the trees seem small enough they could be bush hogged and the rest will need a chain saw or brush cutter but you will still have stumps. BTDT.

Later,
Dan

 

[Snobdds]

Cheap and land clearing do no go in the same sentence. I paid close to 10 grand an acre here in Wyoming to clear 2.5 acres. Even at that, the guy said he was loosing money. They even took out the big trees to offset the cost. We had the pine beetle go through and kill every mature tree living. The state of Wyoming had a grant program where they would reimburse $2500 and acre going out to 150 ft from any structure. So it helped, but it was still expensive. I am still working on clearing the portion out past the 150 feet myself.

The kicker was the forest service went to all the cabins and noted if the land owner cleared the land around the cabin or not. If they did, then if a fire was to come though the forest service knew that the place was defendable and they would prioritize it to be saved. If no clearing was done, they would not prioritize it and they would let it burn. They also wanted all roofs to be metal and red in color, so the air tankers could see the structure from the air and drop water.

 

[ustmd]

Is your issue how to take everything down or what to do with the debris?

If it is just debris, I would rent a large chipper and go to town--maybe put an ad on Craig's list for "free mulch" and see everyone show up to haul the chips away.