Land Clearing Cost Per Acre in Kansas (2026 Guide)

Cedars that were knee-high a few summers ago now shade out the bluestem, or a creek bottom has thickened into a wall of honey locust, and you need a figure before you decide anything. Our Oklahoma City and Denver crews clear ground like that for $1,500 to $4,500 an acre, and that is the number to budget for Kansas land, based on their published pricing. Take it as a planning figure from the people who run the machines.

At a glance:

• Young cedar in grass, fence lines and windbreak edges: $1,500 to $2,500 an acre
• Cedar and honey locust thickets mulched where they stand: $1,500 to $4,000 an acre
• Creek-bottom timber with the stumps out and the wood hauled: up to $4,500 an acre
• April burning: sixteen counties, most of the Flint Hills plus Johnson, Sedgwick and Wyandotte, restrict open burning all month. Range and pasture burns that meet the state rule stay legal; land clearing piles do not get that exemption.
• Stormwater: clearing or grubbing that disturbs an acre or more needs KDHE construction stormwater authorization before work starts.

Request a free quote for your Kansas land, and our crew will contact you to discuss your property, what has grown up on it, the access and the clearing you need.

What It Costs to Clear an Acre in Kansas

Clearing in Kansas can mean cedar and locust cut and mulched back into the grass, a shelterbelt taken out, timber opened for grazing, or a house site cut on an acreage. We price by what has taken the ground, because that decides the hours.

What has taken the ground	Reference price per acre (Oklahoma City and Denver pricing)	What it looks like in Kansas
Cedar seedlings and brush in grass, fence lines, windbreak edges	$1,500 – $2,500	Pasture a few seasons past its last fire
Cedar and honey locust thickets, mulched in place	$1,500 – $4,000	Flint Hills draws, Osage Cuestas pasture, old shelterbelts
Timbered stream bottoms, stumps out, material hauled	$1,500 – $4,500	Creek ground opened for grazing or a building site
House site, drive and utility path	$1,500 – $4,500 per acre equivalent	Acreage lots outside Lawrence, Topeka, Manhattan and Wichita

Access and your property set the quote.

Where these numbers come from. The bands are copied from our Oklahoma City pricing page and Denver pricing page, which publish identical figures. Any single visit carries a floor near $1,500, since hauling a tracked machine to a pasture gate costs the same whether it then works half an acre or a quarter section.

For scale, the Kansas Custom Rates 2026 report from the Kansas Department of Agriculture and K-State puts general dozer work at a state average of $202.86 an hour, from 21 reports, so our band covers roughly seven to 22 hours of heavy machine time an acre.

What Changes the Price of a Kansas Job

How tall the cedar has grown. K-State range scientist Keith Harmoney describes eastern redcedar as a nonsprouting tree: one 4 feet or taller, cut below its lowest branch, dies, with no root suckers to chase afterward. Seedlings can add a foot a year or more, and a pasture with enough grass to carry fire in a 10 mph wind will usually burn out cedars of 3 to 4 feet. Past that, every tree needs a low cut, and height drives the hours more than the tree count does.

Whether honey locust is mixed in. Honey locust is the opposite. Harmoney’s work at K-State’s Hays research center found that cut honey locust sprouts heavily from buds on the trunk and along the roots, so herbicide usually has to follow the saw, and picloram is not labeled for cut-stump use in grazed pasture. A locust thicket is a cutting pass plus a follow-up; ask whether stump treatment is in the price or left to you.

Chert under the Flint Hills grass. The Florence soil covers about 300,000 acres of east-central Kansas range, and its typical subsoil is 80 percent chert fragments over cherty limestone. A mulching head working cedar on that ground has to ride above the stone, which slows the pass and wears teeth. Anyone pricing Chase County without asking about chert has not walked it.

Old shelterbelts. Kansas planted cedar in windbreaks on purpose. The Kansas Forest Service says a windbreak cedar can bear seed within five years of planting, and most volunteer seedlings come up close to those seed trees. Often the whole job is the field side of one old shelterbelt, and the first decision is which rows stay.

Where the wood ends up. Mulched cedar stays on the ground as a chip mat: no pile, no burn approval, no truck. Hauling is the costly route, and the usual one for a house site near town. If a pasture only needs knocking back, our bush hogging vs forestry mulching guide explains when a rotary mower will do.

Kansas Clearing Costs by Region

The Flint Hills, Marshall County south to Cowley County. The Kansas Geological Survey calls this the last sizable remnant of tallgrass prairie, kept in grass because its cherty soil is thin. Trees are rare away from the streams, so the work is cedar climbing the hillsides, and stone sets the pace.

The Osage Cuestas and the southeast. South of the Kansas River, from Lawrence and the Clinton Lake country toward Labette County: east-facing limestone ridges up to 200 feet high with shale plains between. On those plains the Parsons claypan holds a perched water table 6 to 18 inches down from December through April. A tracked machine ruts there in winter and spring and works clean in late summer.

The glaciated northeast. North of the Kansas River, ice reached almost to Manhattan and left glacial drift behind, along with Sioux quartzite boulders on some Wabaunsee County hillsides. A buried boulder stops a mulcher cold, so this ground deserves a walk before anyone prices it.

The Smoky Hills, north-central. Sandstone, limestone and chalk hills running from Rice and McPherson counties up to Washington County, through Saline County. K-State’s estimate of forage lost to tree spread in 2019 was 1 to 7 percent in central counties, against up to 30 percent in some eastern ones. Cedar here is arriving rather than entrenched, which makes now the cheapest time to act.

The High Plains, the western third. Flat to gently rolling wheat country on deep Harney silt loam, where the same estimate of forage lost to trees was zero. Work here is usually a shelterbelt, a creek, or honey locust escaped from a windbreak. The ground is easy, so the stems and the way in set the cost.

Burning Rules and Permits in Kansas

Burning. Kansas starts from a ban: K.A.R. 28-19-645 prohibits open burning except where two other rules allow it. Burning grass and woody growth to manage range or pasture is exempt under 28-19-648 if you notify the local fire authority first and stay with the fire until it is out. Trees and brush from non-agricultural clearing, such as a house site, need KDHE approval under 28-19-647, and only where there is no other practical disposal and no local prohibition. Even then, no lighting from two hours before sunset until an hour after sunrise, and wind must be between 5 and 15 mph. Whether a cedar pile from pasture work counts as range management is a question for your county fire authority before anyone strikes a match.

April. Under K.A.R. 28-19-645a, open burning is restricted all month in Butler, Chase, Chautauqua, Cowley, Elk, Geary, Greenwood, Johnson, Lyon, Marion, Morris, Pottawatomie, Riley, Sedgwick, Wabaunsee and Wyandotte counties. Range and pasture burns that meet the agricultural rule stay legal; land clearing burns are not exempt, and in Johnson, Sedgwick and Wyandotte they need local approval. Mulching avoids the calendar altogether.

Stormwater. KDHE’s construction stormwater general permit covers clearing, grubbing and grading that disturb an acre or more, or less when the work is part of a larger common plan. The owner or operator files a Notice of Intent and needs signed authorization before the work begins. We do not file permits; that stays with you or your builder.

Pro tip: Before you call anyone, count the cedars taller than about 4 feet. Below 3 to 4 feet, a prescribed burn on a well-grassed pasture, with the fire authority notified, may do the job for the price of the fire. Above that, each tree needs a low cut, and the tall-tree count is what a quote is really pricing.

Frequently Asked Questions

How much does it cost to clear an acre of cedar in Kansas?

Budget $1,500 to $2,500 an acre when the cedars are small and scattered through grass, and up to $4,000 when a closed thicket is mulched in place.

Will eastern redcedar grow back after it is cut?

Not from the stump. K-State describes eastern redcedar as nonsprouting, so a tree cut below its lowest branch dies. What returns is new seedlings from birds and nearby seed trees, and a prescribed burn handles those cheaply while they are under 3 to 4 feet.

Can I burn brush piles after clearing land in Kansas?

Sometimes. Range and pasture burns are exempt once the local fire authority is notified. Piles from non-agricultural clearing need KDHE approval, and sixteen counties restrict burning through April, so many owners simply mulch.

Is clearing cheaper in western Kansas than in eastern Kansas?

Usually, per acre, because there is less cedar and timber to cut: K-State put forage lost to trees at zero in western counties and up to 30 percent in some eastern ones.

Get a Quote for Clearing Your Kansas Land

When our crew calls, we will go over a few things: a rough height for the tallest cedars, the thickest patch and the way in (gate, pasture road, low-water crossing), whether honey locust is mixed in, and the finish you want. That might be open grass for grazing, a mulched floor under trees you keep, or ground handed to your dirt contractor for any grading.

Request a free quote for your Kansas land and our crew will get in touch to go over the job. Land near the border? Our Oklahoma and Colorado guides cover the ground next door.

Sources

• Kansas Department of Agriculture and K-State, Kansas Custom Rates 2026
• Kansas Register, KDHE construction stormwater general permit notice