Forested land occupies almost 800 million acres in the United States. If you or your organization own some and are in the business of land clearing, you need specialized equipment.
Finding the right tools for clearing and grubbing your land demands a healthy knowledge base. To cultivate this, you need to do adequate research.
Start your process here with this guide to equipment used for commercial land clearing.
What Are Clearing and Grubbing Processes?
Clearing and grubbing is the process of removing all of the vegetation on your land down to mineral soil.
After a thorough land clearing, your raw forested land will be in a vacant form ready for construction. Clearing implies that all vegetation such as trees, bushes, and understory will be cut.
Grubbing implies that their root systems under the soil will be dug up, as well as any major stumps. What is left is often mineral soil and maybe some leftover dead plant matter.
This can easily be taken care of with a healthy controlled burn after the clearing and grubbing process.
Clearing Equipment
The type of equipment you need for your land clearing project entirely depends on how large your project is. If your land clearing project is only a few acres, you may be able to complete it with basic hand tools and a few chain saws.
Make sure that whoever operates your saws is an experienced timber feller to avoid any unwanted injuries or deaths.
If your land clearing project is larger than a few acres or has some complicated elements you may want to think about getting some heavy equipment.
An excellent piece of equipment for felling timber is a Feller Buncher. This specialized piece of heavy equipment is capable of taking down multiple trees at the same time.
Another useful piece of heavy equipment is a Masticator. Picture a giant wood chipper mounted on the end of a Caterpillar or crane as a removable head.
Masticators are great for brushing, but they have enough power to grind a tree down from crown to root which is very impressive to watch. With these two pieces of equipment, you should be good to go for your land clearing operation.
You may want some additional wood chippers for some of the finer vegetation, but they are not always necessary. A great final finishing touch is to get some mowers to remove some longer grass and finer vegetation.
Grubbing Equipment
For small land clearing projects, you can use hand tools such as hoes, Pulaski’s, picks, and combination multitools. These tools are all great for grubbing out roots.
For larger projects, you need to bring in heavy equipment. Equipment specialized for grubbing services includes bulldozers and excavators.
For a mid-sized project (under ten acres) you can get by with one piece of heavy equipment. For larger projects, you may need multiple pieces of equipment for a long duration.
Keep in mind that heavy equipment rental is expensive. Make sure to factor it into your total commercial land clearing and excavation prices.
Be Good to the Land and It Will Be Good to You
Land management is a multifaceted discipline that involves essential services such as clearing and grubbing. To carry out these services the right way, you need some specialized equipment.
For all your needs when it comes to land clearing and grubbing, contact us today. We have all the experience and equipment to handle your project. Let us help you move forward with your land management plan.
