Compaction and land. Clearing

[AlbertC]

I have about 3-4 acres that I want cleared. It is wooded with a lot of sweet gums pines and oaks. I want to get rid of 80% of the trees and most of them are probable 15" or less in diameter but I want to leave the large pines and oaks.

I can get this cleared with a excavator or have the trees cut and the stumps pulled out with a dozer.

I am concerned about how the weight of this equipment will damage the root system of the trees that I want to keep. There is no way to remove the trees that I want to get rid of without the equipment driving over the footprint of the desirable trees.

Does anyone know how likely is it that the large trees will suffer damage from this operation. Is there any other way to efficiently tackle this job.

Thanks

 

[Fuddy1952]

Before doing anything I would want to talk to people like your county agent, forest service, etc. because I'm thinking there may be loggers in your area that would either buy them or remove without doing damage. Experts know how it can be done properly.

 

[Richard]

Experts know how it can be done properly.

I was pretty much agreeing with everything until this made me laugh.

(we had a bad experience with the timber guys)

Nice thing about us having a 'bad' crew.... that means there have to also be 'good' crews out there. You just have to try to find them!!!

Although I wonder if that's enough land for them to do the job? (honest question, I have no idea what their minimum requirements might be)

 

[RNeumann]

Yep in my area loggers and the state advertise their “forest management” services. You get a healthy thinned chunk of land and they get a few trees. Generally the equipment doesn’t do irreversible damage. Plus a lot of it is drug by winch to the “main” paths of travel. In this situation the stumps are generally cut low to flush. Roots are intermingled so pulling stumps can affect the other root systems.

 

[rustyshakelford]

In Texas? A Dozer could clear most of that. On the larger 15” trees he’d have to cut the roots a little before shoving it over. A track hoe would make cleaner piles to burn and speed up the process though. Generally you want to minimize around the drip edge of the trees but land is cleared all the time and the trees are fine. Don’t buy into the mulcher craze though. They have a place but as far as I’m concerned not on my place unless it’s somewhere I need precision and don’t want to take a dozer ie steep revines

Brett

 

[Oldoak]

In this situation the stumps are generally cut low to flush. Roots are intermingled so pulling stumps can affect the other root systems.

That was my first thoughts for AlbertC. I would not be pulling or digging out the stumps when trying to save other trees in the area. You may not kill the desirable trees, but could stun them enough to become vulnerable to disease and insect damage which would eventually takes it toll on them.

 

[ddbackhoe]

I have about 3-4 acres that I want cleared. It is wooded with a lot of sweet gums pines and oaks. I want to get rid of 80% of the trees and most of them are probable 15" or less in diameter but I want to leave the large pines and oaks.

I can get this cleared with a excavator or have the trees cut and the stumps pulled out with a dozer.

I am concerned about how the weight of this equipment will damage the root system of the trees that I want to keep. There is no way to remove the trees that I want to get rid of without the equipment driving over the footprint of the desirable trees.

Does anyone know how likely is it that the large trees will suffer damage from this operation. Is there any other way to efficiently tackle this job.

Thanks

A lumber crew most likely wont touch this small a patch. 12" + stuff may be keepers, depends on trunk length, species and distance to sawmill. Right now, our guy pays $11/ton for logs.
Without knowing where you are, the only advice is to bring in an excavator, something in the JD 120 or bigger range. With the longer reach, a good operator can pull the smaller trees from outside of the dripline of the ones you want to save. Stacking and burning is easier with an excavator. Weather permitting, about a week's worth of work if you want it cleared and graded, ready for seed.

 

[EddieWalker]

Worse tool in the world for removing stumps is a dozer. It's not very good for land clearing either. An excavator is the very best tool for clearing land, especially if you "DO NOT" cut anything down first. It takes ten times the effort to remove a stump then it does to take out the entire tree with it's root ball attached. I've taken out thousands and thousands of trees this way and dozens of stumps. You learn REALLY FAST the difference.

 

[buckeyefarmer]

Way back in the 70s we had ~30 acres cleared with dozers (before Excavators) and they worked fine. Pushing over trees to uproot them. When we had our small JD1010 crawler we cleared several acres by pulling trees to uproot them. The key to using a dozer is to keep the tree attached to uproot the stump.
Nowdays most people cut the trees and remove the stumps with an excavator, or push the tree over.

 

[GirlWhoWantsTractor]

Curious what the purpose of the clearing is. Improve appearance? Increase grazing area? Get rid of "nuisance" trees (sweet gums)? Fire control? How do you plan to use the area? That may help dictate your methods.

I was advised by a master arborist (tree specialist) that pulling the stump of a mature tree may harm any other mature tree within 10 feet minimum distance. Certainly proved to be the case when I had my pond area cleared with a large excavator. Some of the trees I wanted to save, ended up dying within a few years. Sometimes better to leave clumps of desirable trees with pathways through. Resulting in a "parklike setting." Again, depends on your intended use.