Land Clearing in Mountain Home, AR

What does land clearing cover?

It depends on the plan. For a house pad we take out every tree and stump inside the footprint plus a work zone around it. For a driveway, we clear a corridor wide enough for trucks. For acreage, we may just take out brush and cedar and leave the good hardwoods.

Before anything gets cut, we walk the property with you and flag the trees you want to keep. A big white oak at the edge of the yard is worth a lot more standing than cut.

Why is clearing land here harder than in flat country?

Steep slopes, ravines and a layer of chert and limestone just under the topsoil. Equipment that works on flat ground can slide on wet clay here, and stumps often have rock wrapped up in their roots. We plan where to pile and where to run machines to keep erosion down, because bare ground on a slope washes fast in a spring rain.

What affects the cost?

Acreage, tree density, the size of the trees, how steep the ground is, and what happens to the debris. Grinding stumps out versus pulling them changes the price, and so does whether logs get hauled or stacked on site. You'll have one written number for the scope we agree on.

Selective clearing or a full clear?

Full clearing makes sense inside a building footprint. Everywhere else, selective clearing usually gives you a nicer property: shade on the house, a wooded look from the road, and less erosion. We can thin out the cedar and scrub with our cedar tree removal work and keep the hardwoods.

How does a clearing job on Baxter County ground usually go?

Most clearing work around Mountain Home starts with a phone call from someone who just bought a few acres off Highway 62 or out toward Norfork, Gassville or Midway and can't yet see where the house is going to sit. The first visit is a walk. We look at where the build site is staked, where the driveway needs to come in, which way water runs off the slope, and which trees are worth keeping. Ribbon goes on the keepers so nobody on the crew has to guess.

Then the work happens in an order that keeps the ground stable. Brush and small cedar come out first so we can see the lay of the land. Larger trees inside the footprint are cut and either decked for hauling, bucked into firewood, or chipped. Stumps are ground or pulled depending on what goes on top of that spot. A stump under a future foundation needs to come out entirely, while a stump at the edge of a lawn can just be ground below grade.

Keeping soil where it belongs

Bare, sloped ground in the Ozarks washes fast. One heavy spring rain on a freshly cleared hillside can cut gullies and send red clay into a creek or a neighbor's driveway. Where it makes sense, we leave a strip of brush or groundcover along the downhill edge, spread chips on bare spots, and avoid clearing more than the plan actually needs. If your builder has an erosion plan, we follow it.

What about burning the brush?

Many rural landowners burn their own brush piles. If that is your plan, we can stack piles away from standing trees and structures. Check current burn rules with Baxter County and your local fire department before lighting anything, especially during dry spells, when burn bans are common. If you would rather not deal with it, we chip or haul the material instead.