Clearing old oilfield / farm land

[Gopokes]

Hey, all.

I have 40 acres that has been in my family since the land run days. It was originally part a 160 acre dairy farm, but hasn't seen use for much of anything except oil wells for probably fifty years.

I'm thinking about clearing it and building a little home on the land, but I'm not sure how to go about it. It's pretty grown up with cedars, brush, blackberries, and general weeds.

I can't just hire someone to do the usual "bulldoze it all into a pile" routine because there are active oil lines running from pumps to tanks, random old lengths of sucker rod buried around, and rusty pipe sticking up that goes down somewhere deep I imagine. Most of this stuff is so hidden and buried that you'd never see it if you weren't on foot. There are also some old barn foundations and the foundation of the original farmhouse that I want to keep intact.

What is the best way of clearing land like this without destroying the old foundations or causing an Exxon Valdez scenario (or destroying a brush hog)?

 

[riptides]

I really don't know, we purchased an old non-working dairy farm circa 1920's and have been cleaning it up for ten years now.

We started with one building, moving to the farm house, then selective other buildings. The land, we attacked in parcels. Unfortunate, I have made many trips to the dump and scrap dealers, even had some stuff hauled out. It's a rinse, lather, repeat process of cleaning in small chunks.

I surveyed the work areas by foot, like you, and only ran machinery over it if I knew it was OK. We took a lot of metal out of our place. A lot.

 

[cpufixerjr]

Could you fence the perimeter then put livestock on it to eat down the weeds/brush?

 

[DrRod]

My advice to anyone starting on a place in the country is to keep it small -- notably the lawn. If you go with a big expanse of grass, you'll spend more time than you want keeping up with it. So I'd scope out a little area, clear it for the house, and then look around to see how much else you really want to clear. Even then, consider laying out some trails or rough roads through safe areas so that you can get around the place but otherwise let go natural.

As noted above, you can always clear small parcels one at a time. And livestock is a great help but fences could be more time and expense than just clearing it.

If you know where the pipes and obstacles are, can you drive over it with a tractor and brush hog? Naturally avoid the big stuff and the metal remnants but sort of get control of it by successively cleaning up the borders.

But most of all, don't make yourself crazy by biting off too big of a chunk. Enjoy yourself -- that's the whole point.

 

[dmccarty]

If you can't run heavy equipment on the land due to the pipes and such, then you have to do the work by "hand." The road on the place we bought was overgrown and could not be driven on. I cleared it with a Stihl brush cutter and chainsaw which took quite a bit of time. In hindsight, I wish I had the DR brushcutter to help clear the road since it would have done the work much faster. Not sure it would have been more easier but certainly faster. The chainsaw would still have been needed.

I think you are stuck doing the work with a handheld brush cutter, chain saw and a DR brush cutter. These tools give you a chance to miss the junk and clean up the brush. Once you know where the junk is you can clean it up or mow around it with a tractor. We had an area clear cut that is full of rocks and stumps. Tis amazing to me but I know where all of the rocks and stumps are located even though I only mow a trail through that area every year or so.

The only other way to clean this up would be to do a controlled burn.

I don't think I would want to clean the whole 40 acres though.

Later,
Dan

 

[Yellowhair42]

Goats and/or fire?

 

[greasemonkeyok]

Are you familiar with the resources available from the OERB? You can get help with the cost of old oil and gas well site cleanup from this organization:

News Releases

A small percentage of every barrel of oil and mcf of gas that is produced and sold in Oklahoma is paid to the OERB to finance the cost of cleanup of orphaned well sites. Plus, I assume they have a list of contractors that know what to do.

Also, before you turn heavy equipment loose on the property don't forget to: http://www.callokie.com/

You don't want to cut into an active oil or gas pipeline.

 

[DrRod]

Its funny, no one has mentioned "better living through chemicals." A nice spray of RoundUp or something stronger would at least give you a clear view of all the metal stuff. And you could apply it with a boom sprayer on an ATV so weight and ground hazzards would be much less of a problem.

 

[Bigfoot62]

DrRod has a good idea. Generic Roundup Super Concentrate is cheap. (Glysophate-N) Available at farm supply stores for around $40 for 2.5 gallons. 2 ounces per gallon of water will kill most vegetation.

Then, rent a mini-excavator with a thumb, and grub the stumps and pile. Burn the piles after they dry.

And, :welcome: to TBN.

 

[Stimw]

My basic approach would be to devide and conquer. Lay out areas to work and concentrate on them.
Maybe paint/mark danger with florescent paint when you walk it.
I like the animal idea too. I used to visit a auto junkyard that kept goats in the yard. There was never a problem finding anything. They kept it manicured!