best practice for cutting a perimeter fire break

[Darryl N]

I need to cut a fire break around 2 acres of thick woods and install a 6' perimeter fence. The property was maintained until about 25 years ago. There are large mature oak, pine, and magnolia plus decades of undergrowth, mostly saplings/suckers and briar vines. Level flat ground, sandy loamy soil, near the GA/FL line. The owner wants to preserve the natural growth as far as possible, so the tractor has to be stay strictly along the perimeter, limited space for turnaround etc.

Equipment on hand: 25hp compact loader/backhoe, 16" chainsaw, gas weed eater with a circular brush blade, and 3-point post hole digger.

How would *you* approach this?

 

[Rockbadchild]

Is it a field surrounding the two acres of wood area and why a fire break they want to burn the field or its for forest fire prevention in general ?

 

[Darryl N]

2 acres are adjacent to other wooded property, but I think it's a legal requirement for ag zoning.

 

[Rockbadchild]

2 acres are adjacent to other wooded property, but I think it's a legal requirement for ag zoning.

What is legal a requirement for Agricole zoning ? fire break ?

If its forest around it and all privates property you wont be able to have a effective fire brake so you basically simply need to clear a path for a fence and have the idea of a fire break.

There isn't many method to do this other then rolling up your sleave and doing it ... every portion of forest is different, depending on the amount dead limb on the ground, tree spacing and the amount a underbrush... a grappler and a brush hog would do wonder in this case ... I never do trails the same way, sometime I do a narrow path to my destination by cutting some underbrush and branches and flagging the path, then clear the dead limb and cut the trees that are in the way. Sometime I do everything at once, sometime I cut the trees and move the dead limb then cut the underbrush, it all depend on the situation. I cut what is the most abundant first or what is in the way and removing tripping hazard and stuff wiping in my face first or things that would damage my tractor... I mostly do all my trails with a chainsaw only ... sometime I use my tractor with the brush hog and the grappler but in order to not damage my tractor I mostly do the trails first and use the tractor to clear it wider and cut the underbrush once everything standing is cut very low and the ground dead limb are moved out of the way.

With what you have with the weed wacker circular brush blade cut the small brush exposing the ground and the dead limb and clearing your path, then with the chainsaw cut anything the weed wacker can't handle and use the tractor to clear it out then you do your fence... or you could do it the other way around or something in between... you could remove the stumps from three species that can re-sprout and could damage the fence in the future but regardless it will happen...

 

[LouNY]

A 6 ft tall perimeter fence on a wooded lot?
Only a narrow path for a tractor?

A good setup for a never ending mess, limbs falling on the fence, under brush growing like a weed in the trail.
Unless you cut the stumps at grade level, or grind them or dig them out how is any maintenance going to be done.
Going to be a bunch of backing up with no turnarounds.

 

[Rockbadchild]

I assume you will uses the post hole digger to built the fence, I would be worried about all these roots getting tangle in it.

Do you want the fence or you think you are required to have it ?

 

[Darryl N]

Unless you cut the stumps at grade level, or grind them or dig them out how is any maintenance going to be done.

I plan to dig small-to-medium stumps with the backhoe, and flush cut or maybe grind the big ones. Thankfully, there's only a couple of biggish trees in the way. I whacked most of the brush and saplings last spring, and now that I have the tractor I need to widen so I can run a flail mower or bush hog 2 or 3x a year.

 

[Darryl N]

I assume you will uses the post hole digger to built the fence, I would be worried about all these roots getting tangle in it.

Do you want the fence or you think you are required to have it ?

Won't a post hole digger on a 25HP PTO drill through most roots? Only the corners and line braces will be round posts, all others steel t-posts. Other than at the 4 corners, the post locations can be adjusted slightly to avoid non-drillable roots. Also there is a big pine just inside one corner that will save 3 posts (I do know you have to put 2x4 spacers to keep the tree from "eating" the fence wire).

 

[Rockbadchild]

Won't a post hole digger on a 25HP PTO drill through most roots? Only the corners and line braces will be round posts, all others steel t-posts. Other than at the 4 corners, the post locations can be adjusted slightly to avoid non-drillable roots. Also there is a big pine just inside one corner that will save 3 posts (I do know you have to put 2x4 spacers to keep the tree from "eating" the fence wire).

Most yes but not all ... ho ok, I was under the assumption you where going to sink holes through the hole section of the fence... FYI spruce are pretty sensitive to roots damage so if you cut one of the main roots there is good chance that spruce will die..

 

[yanmars]

Unless you can really get it cleaned up I think the bush hog will work better than a flail mower. My flail mower was good for grass but struggled with any wood saplings of almost any size.
You have your work cut out for you. I have been doing it for almost 35 years and it is never ending. Tried about everything but as said above various combos for different places.
What State are you in? We have nothing similar to those requirements here in Ohio.