Land & Lot Clearing in Marietta, GA

Land and lot clearing around Marietta usually starts with ground that has been left alone for years: the back half of a wooded lot gone thick with pines, sweetgum seedlings and privet, an overgrown fence line, a strip of woods where an addition or a pool will go, or a vacant parcel being readied for a house. The job is to take out what needs to go, keep the trees worth keeping, and leave the soil in a condition that will not wash into the street or the nearest creek the next time it rains.

Selective clearing versus clear-cutting

Most residential clearing in Cobb County is selective. Large healthy oaks, hickories and tulip poplars give shade and value, and many can stay while the underbrush, vines, dead trees and crowded small pines around them come out. We walk the area with you, mark the trees to save and talk about what can be done near them. Heavy equipment over a saved tree's root zone compacts clay that, as soil scientists note about the Piedmont's Cecil soils, recovers poorly once compacted, so we keep machines back from the trees you want to keep.

Clay, slopes and erosion

Bare red clay on a slope erodes fast. Cobb County Community Development lists best management practices as required on residential lots and investigates sediment leaving lots, mud in streets and failed silt fences. Clearing that strips the ground and removes stumps should be planned with erosion control in mind, such as leaving ground cover where possible, working in sections and stabilizing bare soil quickly. Larger grading jobs, land disturbance tied to construction, and work near streams or the Chattahoochee corridor can need permits from the City of Marietta or Cobb County. The Metropolitan River Protection Act, for example, protects a 2,000-foot corridor along both banks of the river from Buford Dam to Peachtree Creek and beyond. Check with the permit office for your address before a large clearing job.

Privet and invasive brush

Chinese privet, English ivy and kudzu crowd out native plants along many wooded edges in the Atlanta area. Cutting privet to the ground is only a start, because it resprouts from the roots, so long-term control usually means grinding or pulling the root crowns or follow-up treatment of the regrowth. We cut and chip the brush and can grind stumps of larger shrubs and trees.

What happens to the material

Brush and small trees are chipped. Chips can be spread on site as mulch or for trails, or hauled away. Logs can be stacked for firewood or removed. On larger lots, forestry mulching, which grinds standing brush and small trees in place, is sometimes the most efficient method and leaves a layer of mulch that helps hold the soil.

Before you clear

Call Georgia 811 so underground utilities are marked; Cobb EMC also advises customers not to plant or dig near its equipment without a locate. If the lot is in an HOA, check the covenants, since many subdivisions limit tree removal on common areas or require approval. And keep trees away from overhead lines when you replant: Cobb EMC recommends planting short trees at least 25 feet and medium trees at least 40 feet from power lines.