Land Clearing Services Across Texas and Oklahoma
Removing what has to go and protecting what stays, on the calendar the law sets. IRONWILL Earthworks clears trees, brush and stumps to the line a project actually needs, around the nesting season, the oak wilt season and the city's protected-tree rules, and hands the site over stabilized and staged for grading rather than covered in piles.
Short mobilization across the metroplex
What stays is decided before we start
Grubbed and stripped where it matters
One contractor all the way to build-ready
Clearing is easy. Clearing the right things is the job.
Land clearing is the first earthwork on almost every site, and everything behind it waits on it. It is also the phase with the most rules attached and the least room to undo a mistake: a tree taken out under a protected-tree ordinance becomes a replacement obligation, a nest destroyed in season is a federal matter, and a root zone driven over kills a tree slowly enough that nobody connects it back to week one.
We clear to a marked line, protect what you are keeping, choose the method for what each part of the site has to carry afterward, and hand the property straight into grading and site preparation. The rules below are not obstacles we discover on site; they are the first thing we read when a property comes in, because they decide the schedule.
Below: what land clearing is, why mulching and grubbing are different jobs, how the trees you keep are actually protected, which rule governs which part of a clearing job around Dallas-Fort Worth and the date or number each one carries, and the order we work in. The rule behind each date on this page is linked at the end.
What is land clearing?
Land clearing is the removal of trees, brush, stumps and vegetation from a property so it can be built on, accessed or maintained. On a construction site it is the first phase: the one that opens access, exposes the ground, and starts the stormwater permit's clock, because the permit defines commencement of construction as the initial disturbance of soils by clearing, grading or excavation, and names grubbing with them9.
There is a wide range inside that definition. The state's own specification for preparing a right of way runs from pruning designated trees at one end to removing foundations, slabs and abandoned pipe at the other, and it sets depths: obstructions cleared to two feet below natural ground where embankment will be placed, one foot elsewhere, and trees and stumps cut to six inches below ground level8. Clearing can mean grinding brush into a mulch layer and leaving it, or digging out every stump and root ball and hauling them off. The right one depends entirely on what the ground is going to carry afterward.
It is also the phase with the least margin for error. A grade can be recut and a drain relaid, but a tree that comes out does not go back, and in Dallas what replaces it is measured: the total caliper of the replacement trees has to equal or exceed the total caliper of every protected tree removed or seriously injured6.
Forestry mulching and grubbing are different jobs
Mulch is a finish for land you are keeping. It is a stabilization measure in the regional manual, and it is not a base for anything you intend to build on.
Forestry mulching
A mulching head grinds standing brush and small trees into a layer left on the ground. Fast, low ground disturbance, nothing to haul, and the layer itself is an erosion control: the regional construction manual lists mulch as a temporary and final stabilization measure at one to two inches thick, anchored on slopes between 3:1 and 1.5:1 and not used on anything steeper, with an efficiency rating of 0.75 to 0.90 depending on coverage12. Roots and the organic mat stay where they are.
Grubbing & stripping
Stumps, root balls and the organic mat are dug out and removed, and topsoil is stripped and stockpiled. Slower, and it generates material that has to leave the site, but it is the only version that leaves ground a pad, a pavement section or structural fill can be built on. On state work it is the operation paid for under Preparing Right of Way, measured by the acre, the station or the tree8.
Which one each part of a site needs
It comes down to what the ground has to carry. Pasture, firebreaks, access corridors and anything staying green can be mulched. Building pads, pavement and structural fill areas have to be grubbed and stripped, because organic material left underneath decomposes and the ground settles under whatever was built on it.
Most properties are a mix, and scoping them as a mix is what keeps the disturbance down. We mulch the areas that will stay vegetated and grub only the footprint that has to carry load. The ungrubbed ground stays covered, which is exactly what the stormwater permit wants from a site between phases9, and the settlement problem never arises because nothing structural sits on organic material.
What our land clearing includes
Selective clearing
Targeted removal of brush, undergrowth and unwanted trees while priority trees, buffers and sightlines stay. The line between keep and remove is walked, flagged and, where a tree survey exists, reconciled to it before a machine starts, not decided from the seat.
Complete clearing and grubbing
Full removal of trees, brush, stumps and root systems to open a site for pads, roads and grading, cleared to the depths the ground's next use demands: below the embankment, below the excavation, and stumps out below grade8.
Forestry mulching
Standing brush and small-diameter trees ground in place into a mulch layer. Nothing to burn, nothing to haul, and the layer stabilizes the surface until the next phase begins, at the thickness the regional manual calls for12.
Tree protection
Protection zones fenced at the drip line, critical root areas kept clear of traffic, fuel and storage, and equipment routed around the trees that are staying, before clearing begins. The state specification puts that fence up first, four feet tall, chain link, posts no more than ten feet apart8.
Tree trimming and limb removal
Limbing for equipment clearance, hazard removal and safe access along work corridors, with oak work held out of the February to June window and every oak wound painted the day it is made3.
Stump grinding and debris removal
Stumps and surface roots ground out, and the debris chipped, hauled to a landfill permitted to take brush14, or on a rural site burned or buried where the rules allow it, with the site staged for grading rather than dotted with piles.
The trees you keep are protected before clearing starts
Most tree loss on a construction site does not come from a saw. It comes from equipment traffic, material storage and grade changes inside the root zone: compaction and root damage that kill a tree slowly. Dallas writes exactly that into its definition. To remove or seriously injure a tree is an intentional or negligent action more likely than not to cause it to decline and die within five years of the act, and the examples the ordinance gives are earthwork: compacting the soil above the root system, changing the natural grade above it, damaging the roots or the trunk by operating machinery near or by clearing and grading around it, and laying nonpermeable pavement over the root system6. The ordinance also reaches past the owner, naming as a responsible party any other person or entity responsible for the removal or the injury6. The fence is the protection.
Protection is physical and entirely front-loaded. The state specification is specific about it: tree protection fencing along the drip line, four feet tall, installed before work begins, and no parking, servicing, storage or disturbance of the root area under the branches of a tree designated for preservation8. Done at the start it is a roll of fence and a morning. Done after the fact it is a replacement tree, planted inch for inch of caliper against what was lost, and no one species may make up more than 30 percent of the replanting on a lot6.
Keep trees flagged against the tree survey before mobilization
Protection fencing set at the drip line, not the trunk
No traffic, fuel, storage or stockpiling inside the fence
Grade changes around retained trees flagged before the grading plan is final
Root pruning cut clean where it cannot be avoided, and oak wounds painted
Protection maintained through grading, not pulled on day two
What governs a clearing job, and when
Every rule in this table is a real constraint on the schedule, and each one has a number attached. The two that catch people are the calendar rules: nesting season and oak wilt season together cover February through mid-September, which is most of the year, so heavy clearing in a wooded tract is planned around them rather than discovered inside them.
| Concern | Rule | What it requires | The date or the number |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nesting birds | Migratory Bird Treaty Act2 | No take of protected birds, their nests or eggs without federal authorization | TPWD asks that vegetation removal be phased outside March 15 to September 151 |
| Oak wilt | Texas A&M Forest Service guidance3 | Do not prune or wound oaks in the high-risk months; paint every oak wound at once | Avoid February through June3 |
| Protected trees | Dallas City Code, Article X6 | A tree survey, and either an approved removal application or a building permit, posted at the entrances before a protected tree comes out | Protected at 8 inches caliper6; an issued removal permit runs no more than 6 months7 |
| Stormwater | TCEQ Construction General Permit9 | SWP3 in place before the first disturbance; clearing and grubbing are the first disturbance | 1 acre, or a larger common plan |
| Underground lines | Texas Utilities Code, Chapter 25110 | One-call notice before any grubbing, ripping or grading that disturbs soil 16 inches deep | 48 hours ahead, weekends and holidays excluded |
| Burning debris | 30 TAC Chapter 111, Subchapter B45; county burn bans15 | In the ten nonattainment counties, land-clearing growth only with no practical alternative; in most other counties, allowed without weighing alternatives first; always on the site where it was cleared, and never under a county burn ban | 300 feet from a neighbor's structure; sunrise plus one hour to sunset less one hour; wind 6 to 23 mph |
| Creeks and wetlands | Clean Water Act Section 404; 33 CFR 328.3111 | No fill in waters of the United States without a Corps permit | Ditches dug wholly in dry land and erosional swales are excluded by the rule |
| What leaves the site | TCEQ municipal solid waste rules14 | Brush and clearing debris go to a Type IV or Type I landfill, or to a grinder | Trees, stumps, earth and rock are counted as construction and demolition material by EPA13 |
City tree ordinances
In Dallas, a protected tree is one with a caliper of eight inches or more that is not among the species the article exempts, a list that includes silver maple, hackberry, Arizona ash, chinaberry, Chinese tallow and tree of heaven; an eastern red cedar or a mesquite is exempt at eight inches but protected at twelve, or nearer than 120 feet to a floodplain, a wetland or an escarpment zone6. Taking one out needs a tree survey, which the article does not require a surveyor or a landscape architect to draw, and either an approved tree removal application or a building permit, posted in a conspicuous place at the entrances to the tract before the work starts6. The permits for demolition, excavation, grading and retaining walls expressly do not carry that authorization, and an issued removal permit runs no more than six months from the date of approval7. Fort Worth, Plano, Frisco and the rest each have their own ordinance, their own protected sizes and their own mitigation formula, and we confirm the one for your address before we quote.
Stormwater authorization
Clearing is land disturbance in the permit's own definition, alongside grubbing and stockpiling9. A site disturbing one acre or more, or part of a larger common plan of development that will, falls under TCEQ's Construction General Permit, which requires a Stormwater Pollution Prevention Plan developed and implemented before construction begins9. The perimeter controls and the stabilized exit are in the ground before the first tree comes down.
Nesting season and oak wilt season
The Migratory Bird Treaty Act, in force since 1918 under treaties with Canada, Mexico, Japan and Russia, prohibits the take of protected birds without federal authorization2, and Texas Parks and Wildlife asks that vegetation removal and ground disturbance be phased to occur outside the nesting season, March 15 to September 151. Oak wilt has its own calendar: the Texas A&M Forest Service says to avoid pruning or wounding oaks from February through June, when the fungal mats and the sap beetles that carry the spores are most active, and to paint every oak wound immediately in any month; red oaks can die within a month of infection and the disease moves an average of 75 feet a year through connected roots3.
Where the brush goes: haul it, burn it or bury it
What comes off a cleared site does not always have to leave it, and on a rural site the choice can take real cost out of the job. There are four places it can go, and which one fits depends on the site and the county. In town and on most commercial sites it is chipped or mulched in place where the ground is staying green, or hauled to a landfill permitted to take brush or to a grinder14. On a rural site with room, it can be buried in green space well away from anything structural and left to break down, or burned on site where the rules allow it, both of which keep it off the trucks. We confirm which of these the local and state rules allow on your property before we price it.
Burning turns on the county. Ten counties around Dallas and Fort Worth (Collin, Dallas, Denton, Ellis, Johnson, Kaufman, Parker, Rockwall, Tarrant and Wise) are federally designated ozone nonattainment counties5, and there TCEQ's outdoor burning rule allows land-clearing growth to be burned only when no practical alternative exists. In most other counties, which is most of rural Texas, waste plant growth may be burned without weighing the alternatives first, under a shorter list of the general requirements and any city ordinance4. Everywhere, the material is burned on the site where it was cleared and may not be moved somewhere else to burn4, and when drought sets in a county judge or commissioners court can ban outdoor burning altogether15, so we check the county's status on the Texas A&M Forest Service map before a match is struck. Where a burn does go ahead in a nonattainment county, it meets every general requirement: outside a city's limits unless the city's ordinance permits it, at least 300 feet from a structure with sensitive receptors on adjoining property, started no earlier than an hour after sunrise and finished an hour before sunset, in surface wind between six and 23 miles per hour4.
Before we quote a property we tell you which of these rules apply to it, so the schedule is built around them instead of interrupted by them, and we work alongside your arborist, your environmental consultant and whoever holds the stormwater plan. Where a creek, a pond or a low wet area crosses the tract, whether it is a water of the United States is settled under the federal definition with the Corps of Engineers111 before a machine goes near it.
Our land clearing process
Clearing goes wrong in the planning, not in the cutting. This is the order we work in so the right things come out, the right things stay, and the site is handed over ready for what follows.
Site walk and scope
We walk the property with you and the tree survey if one exists: the build footprint, access routes, what has to come out and what you want kept. Ambiguity at this stage is what produces the tree nobody meant to lose.
Permits, protection and stormwater
The city's ordinance is confirmed and any removal application filed7, the one-call notice goes in at least 48 hours ahead because grubbing disturbs soil past the 16 inch line the law draws10, protection zones are fenced, and the perimeter controls and stabilized exit are installed before any clearing starts9.
Method by area
We decide which areas get mulched and which get grubbed and stripped, based on what each part of the site has to carry. This is where the scope is really decided, and where the disturbed area is kept as small as the project allows.
Clearing and trimming
Selective or complete clearing performed to the flagged lines, with trimming for equipment clearance and hazard removal along access routes, and oak work timed and painted to the Forest Service's guidance3.
Grubbing, grinding and debris
Cleanup and handoff
The site is left staged for grading or site preparation: surface stabilized, controls still standing, protection fencing still up, and no piles for the next crew to work around.
What careful clearing saves you later
Clearing sets the conditions every trade after it has to work in. Access, drainage patterns, what is left standing, how much bare soil is exposed and for how long: all of it is decided in the first week on site, and the stormwater permit measures the last one in days9.
The expensive failures are consistent: a site stripped wider than it needed to be and then washing every time it rains, a protected tree lost to equipment traffic and replaced at the owner's expense under the ordinance6, a nest found mid-job in May that stops work in that corner until it fledges1, or a pad built on mulched ground that settles a year later.
Stable access for heavy equipment from day one
Less bare soil exposed, and less erosion to control
Retained trees kept alive and out of the replacement formula
No organic material left where structure is going
Fuel load reduced on overgrown acreage
A site staged for grading rather than for cleanup
Have a property that needs clearing?
Send the address, the acreage, the tree survey if you have one, and what you want kept. We will tell you which areas should be mulched, which have to be grubbed, which rules apply to the tract, and what the calendar does to the schedule.
Projects we support
From a single building envelope to a large tract, the principle is the same: take out what the project needs, keep what it does not, and leave ground that suits what is going on top of it.
Commercial development sites
Retail, office, industrial and mixed-use sites cleared to the limits of construction with the required tree preservation intact and the survey reconciled before the first cut.
Multifamily and mixed-use tracts
Phased developments where the trees that carry the site plan's canopy credit are fenced and kept while the building envelopes and drive aisles are opened.
Ranch, pasture and acreage reclamation
Mesquite, cedar and dense brush mulched back to usable ground, with fuel load reduced and the surface left covered.
Access roads and utility corridors
Linear clearing for site roads, haul routes and easements, cut to the width the route actually needs and no wider, because every extra foot is bare soil the permit expects you to stabilize9.
Fence lines and property cleanup
Overgrown fence lines, property boundaries and neglected acreage cleared back to something maintainable.
Pre-construction clearing
Clearing as the first phase of a broader scope, handed straight into mass grading, excavation and erosion control under the same SWP3 and the same crew.
How we approach clearing
Construction-first mindset
We clear to set up the next trade, not just to finish a clearing job.
Deliberate preservation
What stays is flagged and fenced before the first machine moves.
Method matched to the ground
Mulched where it can be, grubbed where it has to be, and the disturbed area kept to the footprint.
One team, full scope
Clearing, grading, pads, drainage and site prep under one contractor.
Land clearing across Texas and Oklahoma, from Dallas-Fort Worth
We clear commercial, industrial, multifamily, municipal and rural tracts across Texas and Oklahoma, from single building envelopes to several hundred acres. Crews and equipment are based in Dallas, and we check which city protects which trees at which size before the first one comes down.
Acreage and access decide this answer more than distance does, so ask about a tract anywhere in the region.
Property address and approximate acreage
What you want kept: trees, buffers, sightlines
What the cleared area will be used for
Whether a survey or tree survey exists
Target schedule and site access limits
Land clearing FAQ
What is land clearing?
The removal of trees, brush, stumps and vegetation so a property can be built on, accessed or maintained. On a construction site it is the first phase, and the stormwater permit counts it as the start of construction9.
What is the difference between forestry mulching and grubbing?
Mulching grinds standing growth into a layer left on the ground, roots and mat included, and the regional manual counts that layer as a stabilization measure12. Grubbing digs out stumps, root balls and the mat and removes them. Only grubbed ground can carry a pad or a pavement section.
Can you build on mulched ground?
Not anything structural. Mulch and the root mat under it are organic, and organic material decomposes and settles. Pads, pavement and structural fill areas are grubbed and stripped first. Mulching is right for pasture, firebreaks, corridors and anything that will stay vegetated.
Do I need a permit to remove trees in Dallas-Fort Worth?
Usually, yes, and it varies by city. In Dallas a protected tree is one at eight inches caliper or more that is not among the species the article exempts, and taking one out requires a tree survey and either an approved removal application or a building permit, posted at the entrances to the tract6. An excavation or grading permit is expressly not a substitute for it7. Other metroplex cities set their own sizes and formulas, so the requirement is confirmed for your address before anything comes down.
How do you protect the trees I want to keep?
Flagged against the survey before mobilization, fenced at the drip line rather than the trunk, and kept clear of traffic, fuel and stockpiles for the length of the job. The state specification uses four-foot chain link on posts ten feet apart, installed before work begins8. Most construction tree loss is compaction inside that zone, not cutting.
What happens to the cleared debris?
It depends on where the site is. Mulched material stays on the ground as cover. Grubbed stumps, root balls and timber are chipped or hauled to a landfill permitted for brush14. On a rural site with room, they can be buried in green space away from anything structural, or burned on site where the county allows it: in the ten DFW nonattainment counties only when there is no practical alternative, in most other counties without that test, and never during a burn ban415.
Can you clear selectively instead of taking everything?
Yes, and on most properties it is the better job. We walk and flag the line between keep and remove with you before mobilizing, then clear to it, preserving buffers, sightlines and specimen trees while opening the area the project actually needs.
When in the year can a wooded tract be cleared?
Any month, with two windows planned around. TPWD asks that vegetation removal be phased outside the nesting season, March 15 to September 151, and the Forest Service says not to prune or wound oaks from February through June3. A tract with oaks and active nesting habitat is cleared most simply between mid-September and the end of January; inside the windows, a nest survey and a paint can on every oak cut are the minimum.
How long does land clearing take?
A single building envelope is typically a matter of days. Larger commercial sites and acreage run from several days to several weeks depending on density, method and access. Wet ground is the usual delay, since heavy equipment on saturated clay does more damage than work.
Can clearing be combined with grading and site preparation?
Yes, and it is usually faster that way. Clearing, grading, excavation, erosion control and site preparation under one contractor means one SWP3, one set of controls that move with the work, and no second mobilization between phases.
Sources
Every number and every rule on this page is cited here. Reviewed October 1, 2026.
- Laws and Regulations Applicable to TPWD ReviewTexas Parks and Wildlife DepartmentThe recommendation that vegetation removal and ground disturbance be phased outside the March 15 to September 15 nesting season, Chapter 68 of the Parks and Wildlife Code on state-listed species, and Section 404 of the Clean Water Act.
- Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918U.S. Fish and Wildlife ServiceThe prohibition on take of protected migratory birds without authorization, and the four treaties the Act implements.
- Prevent the Spread of Oak Wilt in TexasTexas A&M Forest Service, 2025Avoid pruning or wounding oaks February through June, paint every wound immediately, how the fungus spreads by sap beetles and root connections, and the susceptibility of red and live oaks.
- Outdoor Burning in Texas (RG-049)Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, 2025The disposal-fire exception in 30 TAC 111.209: in nonattainment counties, land-clearing plant growth only with no practical alternative; in most attainment counties, plant growth without weighing alternatives, under parts of the general requirements and local ordinances; the general requirements in 111.219 (city limits, 300 feet, hours, wind); clearing material burned only at the site of the clearing; and county burn bans, which TCEQ does not issue.
- Dallas-Fort Worth: Ozone HistoryTexas Commission on Environmental QualityThe ten counties designated nonattainment for the 2008 ozone standard and the nine for the 2015 standard, with their classifications.
- Dallas City Code, Chapter 51A, Article X: Landscape and Tree Preservation RegulationsCity of Dallas, Department of Sustainable Development and ConstructionSection 51A-10.101: protected tree at eight inches caliper and the species the article exempts; remove or seriously injure, its five-year test and its earthwork examples; responsible party. Section 51A-10.132: the posted application and the tree survey. Section 51A-10.134: replacement inch for inch of caliper, no species above 30 percent.
- Landscape and Tree Manual, Appendix E: Tree Removal Application ProcessCity of Dallas Development Services, 2019A building permit authorizes removal for the permitted construction; demolition, excavation and grading permits do not; the separate tree removal application, the survey it requires, and the six-month validity of the permit.
- 2024 Standard Specifications for Construction and Maintenance of Highways, Streets, and BridgesTexas Department of Transportation, 2024Item 100, Preparing Right of Way: clearing depths, stumps to six inches below ground, tree protection fencing at the drip line, burning under local and state rules, and measurement by the acre, station or tree.
- TPDES General Permit TXR150000, Stormwater Discharges from Construction ActivitiesTexas Commission on Environmental Quality, 2023Commencement of construction defined as the initial disturbance of soils by clearing, grading or excavation, with grubbing and stockpiling named; the SWP3 required before construction begins; the one-acre threshold and the larger common plan.
- Texas Utilities Code, Chapter 251: Underground Facility Damage Prevention and SafetyTexas Legislature OnlineExcavate defined to include grading, ripping and scraping that disturb soil to a depth of 16 inches or more (Section 251.002), and the notice window of not earlier than the 14th day and not later than the 48th hour before excavation, excluding Saturdays, Sundays and legal holidays (Section 251.151).
- 33 CFR 328.3, Definitions (waters of the United States)Code of Federal Regulations, U.S. Government Publishing Office, 2023The definition of waters of the United States and wetlands, and the exclusions for ditches excavated wholly in dry land, swales and erosional features, and water-filled depressions incidental to construction.
- iSWM Technical Manual: Construction ControlsNorth Central Texas Council of Governments, 2019Mulching as a temporary and final stabilization measure: one to two inches, anchored on slopes of 3:1 to 1.5:1, not used steeper than 1.5:1, efficiency 0.75 to 0.90.
- Sustainable Management of Construction and Demolition MaterialsU.S. Environmental Protection AgencyTrees, stumps, earth and rock from clearing sites counted among construction and demolition materials; 600 million tons generated in 2018 and 455 million tons directed to a next use.
- Municipal Solid Waste Type I and Type IV LandfillsTexas Commission on Environmental QualityType IV landfills limited to brush, construction and demolition waste, and rubbish; Type I landfills accepting all municipal solid waste.
- Burn Bans and InformationTexas A&M Forest ServiceWhen drought conditions exist, a county judge or county commissioners court can put a burn ban in place prohibiting or restricting outdoor burning; the current county-by-county map.