Unique Challenges of Land Clearing in Mississippi

Land clearing is a must to remove trees, level the ground, and prevent soil erosion, but you can’t just run roughshod over things with a couple of bulldozers and call it a day! Just as building a home requires meticulous attention to detail, clearing a piece of land does, too. In fact, without proper planning, you could risk damaging the land or violating local ordinances, resulting in costly fines and project delays.

Below, HECK Services discusses some of the biggest challenges you’ll face with land clearing, whether or not you’re in Mississippi.

Tackling Thick Hardwood Forests Requires Heavy Machinery

You’ve always dreamed of building a home in the countryside, far from the hustle and bustle of the big city. At last, your dream is about to come true. You’ve purchased a lovely tract of land in a rural area, perhaps neighboring the De Soto or Tombigbee National Forest.

There’s just one problem: the land is full of dense hardwood trees with canopies so thick you can barely see the sunshine. There’s no way you’re breaking ground without taking those trees down first. Think you can just take an axe to those trees and be done with it? 

Think again; hardwood trees are tough, and cutting just one down is backbreaking work. Handle the job by hand, and it could be months before you begin your build. Take it from us; any hardwood forests like those in Mississippi require help from some heavy machinery like bulldozers, wood chippers, and spider lifts.

Unless you have the right training, that’s not machinery you can manage yourself, either. If you’re land clearing, you’ll need to hire a crew with ample experience and licensing – like HECK Services.

Create Proper Drainage for Floodplains You’re Clearing

One of the biggest challenges of land clearing is that the process shifts a lot of soil. The other challenge? The state is home to a surprising number of floodplains, particularly near the Mississippi River. 

You may recall the May 2011 Mississippi River floods, which were among the most damaging floods in the nation’s history. This flooding didn’t just impact our state, either. President Barack Obama declared certain parts of Louisiana, Tennessee, and Kentucky federal disaster areas, as the government opened the Morganza Spillway for the first time in nearly 40 years to save New Orleans and Baton Rouge from ending up underwater.

Adequate drainage for floodplains here isn’t optional. Good drainage ensures that water flows where it should, such as into drainage ditches, creeks, and rivers. If you want to avoid flooding your home and the rest of the neighborhood, take this into account when you’re clearing the space.

Navigating Utilities and Other Land-related Obstacles

If you’ve purchased completely raw land in a rural location that supposedly lacks power and sewer lines, you may think that you won’t have to worry about running into these obstacles during land clearing. Utility lines can hide in the most surprising places, though, so the experts will always – without fail – determine their location before any work begins on-site.

Running into or over a utility line with heavy equipment can have disastrous consequences like knocking out the electricity, bursting a sewer pipe, or, worst of all, hitting a gas line. Why not hire a land-clearing company that does its due diligence in locating utilities and other obstacles that may affect your project? That forest may look unspoiled, but who knows what sort of things may be buried in the earth? 

Your land-clearing crew will remove all debris before workers start tree cutting, including things like scrap metal, lumber, car batteries, and other assorted trash.

Obtaining Permits for Your Land-Clearing Project

Many aspiring homebuilders are surprised to learn that they need permits for land clearing. In most counties, for example, you will need a permit to remove a substantial number of trees in a row, block, patch, or strip. You’ll also need a permit for deforestation and bulldozing in protected habitats and near waterways.

Mississippi’s counties require permits to prevent excessive vegetation removal and safeguard protected tree species, too. If you fail to get the right permits, the county could fine you for clearing land or even bring your building project to a grinding halt.

Need Land Clearing in Mississippi? Call HECK Services

Land clearing in Mississippi and everywhere else presents many challenges, but our professionals at HECK Services are well-equipped and ready for anything. Trust our experts when it comes to excavation, grading, and tree removal! Get a quote for land clearing today at (601) 440-2527.

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