Land Clearing Cost in Ellsworth, WI

Around Ellsworth the same overgrown acre can sit on a level ridge field or halfway down a coulee. In Pierce County, land clearing runs $1,500 to $4,500 an acre, with a minimum charge of about $1,500 on small jobs. Slope and how long buckthorn has had to thicken decide most of where a price lands. Fence lines, the season around your oaks and the way a trailer reaches the work account for the rest. The ranges below are for budgeting before you call.

You get one written figure for the finish we agree on, and any buckthorn follow-up visit sits on its own line for you to take or leave. Forestry mulching grinds brush, small trees and stumps into mulch on site, leaves the stumps flush with the ground and hauls nothing away. Full stump removal below grade, and cutting and hauling very large trees, are discussed and priced in the quote. Grading and build pads are not part of our price: we clear to the ground so a builder can grade. Stump treatment, if you want it, is a licensed applicator's work.

Want a firm number? Request a free quote. For background, there is the Ellsworth services page, the Ellsworth land clearing page, the Ellsworth forestry mulching cost guide, the Wisconsin buckthorn removal guide and the Wisconsin land clearing cost guide.

Ellsworth Rates by Type of Work

Forestry Mulching

$1,500 – $4,000 / acre

Standing brush and small trees ground into chips where they grew. A pasture edge with a few seasons of saplings on level ground starts near $1,500; an old buckthorn and pole-timber thicket down a coulee side works toward $4,000.

Buckthorn & Understory Clearing

$1,500 – $2,500 / acre

Buckthorn, brush and saplings taken out from beneath the oaks and maples you keep, or cut back off a fence line. Each tree that stays is flagged before the mulcher moves in.

Land Clearing

$1,500 – $4,500 / acre

A woodlot, a grown-over field or a brushy hillside opened to the finish your quote describes. Thin young growth on open ground prices at the bottom; a closed stand of mixed hardwood and buckthorn taken to the soil prices at the top. Stumps finish level with the ground, and removing them below grade is a separate line in the quote.

Lot & Homesite Prep

$1,500 – $4,500 / acre equivalent

Space for the house, the drive and the power and well or septic runs cleared on a rural lot, with the slope walked before the layout is fixed. We stop at the surface; the grading and the pad belong to your builder.

The minimum charge is about $1,500 a job. Hauling a tracked mulcher out and setting it up for one short fence line near Trimbelle is the same effort as for a full day near Elmwood, so small jobs are charged that minimum instead of an acre rate, with nothing on top. Larger jobs are priced by the acre inside the bands, and grouping every brushy corner of the farm into one visit gets the most from the trip.

What Moves an Ellsworth Quote

Ridge top, pasture or coulee side

Part of Pierce County lies in Driftless coulee country of steep-walled valleys and ridges. A level ridge field or a pasture fence line lets the mulcher run straight and steady. A coulee side has it working across the grade in shorter passes, and ground too steep to work safely is left out of the quote and named as such.

How long the buckthorn has had

A few years of buckthorn seedlings along a field edge go down fast. A thicket left for decades is a tangle of thorny stems that can reach twenty to twenty-five feet, often mixed with saplings, and the stem count, more than the size of the parcel, is what pushes a wooded acre toward the top of its band.

Fence lines and long strips

A grown-in fence line is long and narrow, so it is priced by its acreage equivalent plus the distance the machine travels along it. Two fence lines and a field corner on one trip cost less per foot than each booked on its own.

Getting the machine in

Unloading beside the work keeps the mulcher cutting. A field lane that is soft after rain, a ditch to cross or a gate too narrow for a trailer each add time, so the route in is one of our questions when we call about the quote.

The season around your oaks

To reduce oak wilt risk, plan work near keeper oaks outside the high-risk window from April 1 in the South Zone, or April 15 in the North Zone, through July 15. A start date after mid-July, in fall or on frozen winter ground changes when the work can be booked rather than creating a separate rate.

Ellsworth Pricing Questions

What does an acre of clearing cost around Ellsworth?

Expect $1,500 to $4,500 an acre for most work. Buckthorn and brush taken out from under trees you keep is priced at $1,500 to $2,500; a dense thicket on a coulee side mulched to the ground sits high in the mulching band. Any one acre can fall low or high in its band, set by the growth and the slope. The $1,500 minimum is where small jobs start, not what a typical acre costs.

Do you haul the buckthorn away?

No. Brush, small trees and stumps are ground into mulch on site and nothing is hauled away, which also keeps berried buckthorn off the road. Full stump removal below grade and cutting and hauling very large trees are discussed and priced in the quote. The Ellsworth forestry mulching cost guide explains how coulee ground and oak timing move a quote.

Does buckthorn cost more to clear than other brush?

Not per acre. Buckthorn under trees you keep sits in the $1,500 to $2,500 understory band, and an old, wide thicket with heavy stems prices as forestry mulching. The added cost is the follow-up: cut buckthorn sprouts from the stump, so return visits are part of the plan. Our Wisconsin buckthorn removal guide explains the visits and what they cost.

Will a permit change my price?

Seldom the rate. A permit mostly changes how much ground is in the quote, where the work stops near water and when it can start. Clearing counts toward the DNR's one-acre storm water trigger, and Pierce County Land Management handles shoreland and wetland rules. Requirements vary by parcel, scope and jurisdiction, and the governing authority makes the determination. The ground and permit summary is on the Ellsworth land clearing page.

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