Question for the Land Clearing Experts

An excavator with a thumb is handy as and you can clear a larger area without moving the tracks as much as you would on a crawler dozer, every time you roll the tracks they wear and that eventually costs you money. plus excavators are great at removing the stumps, especially if you have a brush rake attachment instead of a bucket combined with the thumb.

If its mostly pine check with a pulp mill or timber cutter if they would clear cut it for the wood then you can handle the stumps and brush with a 7 or 8 tractor. If your not going to burn the stumps and just pile them to the side then use a good size excavator or else grub them out with a straight blade then use a heavy root rake to stack and burn the material. You could also rent a grinder on an excavator or track machine to grind everything up [stumps and brush] with out burning. If I was closer to your area I would clear it with a Rome blade and stack with a rake. Don't know if many Rome blades are out west. It always easier to get the large timber or trees cut and out of the way first then tackle the rest.

If its mostly pine check with a pulp mill or timber cutter if they would clear cut it for the wood then you can handle the stumps and brush with a 7 or 8 tractor. If your not going to burn the stumps and just pile them to the side then use a good size excavator or else grub them out with a straight blade then use a heavy root rake to stack and burn the material. You could also rent a grinder on an excavator or track machine to grind everything up [stumps and brush] with out burning. If I was closer to your area I would clear it with a Rome blade and stack with a rake. Don't know if many Rome blades are out west. It always easier to get the large timber or trees cut and out of the way first then tackle the rest.

I would use the excavator with a thumb, it is a lot faster. Plus you can make a burn pile, light it and keep adding more limbs/stumps as you go to get rid of the unwanted material, without getting too close to the fire. Also, you can take a tree down and dig out the stump at the same time. Also, if you wanted to cut the logs into lengths for firewood you could do it at standing height instead of having to bend over by holding with the thumb and bucket, then you can use the excavator to make a log pile if you wanted to. After you clear everything take your D2 out there and smooth it out for farming. We had 7 acres logged then went in to clean up the limbs and stumps later, some were small, others were over 36" in diameter, every one I have talked to said that was the bass ackwards way of doing it, I later cleared another acre with an excavator and it was 10 times faster. Good luck and have fun.

I would use the excavator with a thumb, it is a lot faster. Plus you can make a burn pile, light it and keep adding more limbs/stumps as you go to get rid of the unwanted material, without getting too close to the fire. Also, you can take a tree down and dig out the stump at the same time. Also, if you wanted to cut the logs into lengths for firewood you could do it at standing height instead of having to bend over by holding with the thumb and bucket, then you can use the excavator to make a log pile if you wanted to. After you clear everything take your D2 out there and smooth it out for farming. We had 7 acres logged then went in to clean up the limbs and stumps later, some were small, others were over 36" in diameter, every one I have talked to said that was the bass ackwards way of doing it, I later cleared another acre with an excavator and it was 10 times faster. Good luck and have fun.

Unfortunately, I cannot afford to burn the stumps and slash. Our insane State Dept. of Ecology charges thousands for burning- a "carbon tax" if you will. A single large pile can cost $5000 to burn. Un-freaking believable but true!

G

Unfortunately, I cannot afford to burn the stumps and slash. Our insane State Dept. of Ecology charges thousands for burning- a "carbon tax" if you will. A single large pile can cost $5000 to burn. Un-freaking believable but true!

G

Gregness, wow that's sucks! And no fines or regulations for every jet airplane that takes off and pollutes the air! and how many of those damn things take off every few seconds around the world???? Theres all your greenhouse gases and global warming right there EPA!!!!!!! They should stick there noses there instead of up every little contractors rear trying to burn a brush pile!!!!