PIERCE
LAND
CLEARING
Cedar is the Hill Country’s defining job. Here is what it actually is, why a mulcher finishes it in one pass, which cedar you should leave alone, what the water question really looks like, and what the documented jobs have cost per acre.
Hill Country cedar is Ashe juniper, and it does not resprout once it is cut. That makes forestry mulching the complete answer on most tracts: one pass with a dedicated mulcher, the cedar becomes a mulch layer that holds the thin limestone soil, the oaks stay where they are, and the ground never needs a second treatment. Published rates are $3,000 per day for the skid steer mulcher with transport included and $4,000 per day plus transport for the high horsepower machine. On the documented jobs that works out to roughly $1,250 to $1,600 an acre: 34 acres near Dripping Springs in 14 days at $50,000 to $55,000, and 22 acres at Jacksboro in 7 days at $27,000 to $28,000. What to leave is the more important question than what to take, and it comes down to three things: mature mixed canopy in warbler country, cedar holding a steep slope, and any cedar you want as a screen.
People move to the Hill Country for the oaks and the views and find both hidden behind a wall of cedar. Clearing it is the most common job we do, from the Highland Lakes down to the Guadalupe, and the questions are always the same: will it grow back, will it bring the springs back, how much of it should go, and what does it cost. Those are the four sections below.
The tree everyone calls cedar is Ashe juniper, sometimes called blueberry juniper for its blue berries. It is native, it was always here, and what changed is that a century of fire suppression and heavy grazing let it walk off the canyon slopes onto ground that used to be open savanna. It does not resprout from the stump. Cut it, mulch it, or push it over and that tree is finished, which is why so much Hill Country clearing never needs a dozer or a second visit.
West and north of the Hill Country, out toward the Rolling Plains and the western Edwards Plateau, the cedar is often redberry juniper, a different species with red berries that does resprout from the base after cutting. If your place is out past Brady or up toward Abilene, it matters which one you have, because redberry juniper mulched at ground level comes back and needs either grubbing or a follow up pass. In North and East Texas the cedar is usually eastern red cedar, which behaves like Ashe juniper and dies when cut. We look before we quote.
The other thing worth knowing: cedar fever is the male tree’s pollen, released from December into February. If that is the reason you are calling, we clear cedar all winter, and the male trees are the ones dropping the orange dust in January.
Mature mixed cedar and oak canopy in warbler country. The golden-cheeked warbler nests only in the Hill Country and only in old Ashe juniper mixed with oaks, roughly March through July. Clearing that kind of canopy in the western and central Hill Country can fall under federal wildlife rules. Young regrowth cedar in a pasture is not habitat and is not affected. If your tract has old, tall cedar with shredding bark growing in among the oaks on a canyon slope, it is worth a question before it is cut, and we will tell you when it looks like that kind of place. If the land is carried on a wildlife valuation, the wildlife exemption clearing guide covers how cedar work fits the plan.
Cedar holding a slope. On a steep limestone break, the cedar roots are what is keeping the soil on the hill. Taking it all off in one pass and leaving bare rock is how a slope ends up in the creek. We mulch the slope so the layer stays, and on the steepest ground we leave the cedar.
Screens and windbreaks. A cedar line along a road or a property line is free privacy. Most owners keep it and we cut the view corridors through it instead.
What goes. Everything else: the thickets choking the oaks, the young cedar walking into the pasture, the brake that closed the view, the cedar under the power line. That is most of what is on most tracts, and it is where the mulcher earns its day.
What the machine does not touch is the oaks. Live oak and Spanish oak in this country carry the property value, and a mulcher works between the trunks without wounding them. That matters more than it sounds: fresh wounds on oaks in spring are how oak wilt gets in, so we keep the head off the trunks and off the roots. The cedar and land value guide covers what an opened up oak pasture does to a sale price.
Everybody in the Hill Country has heard that clearing cedar brings the springs back. There is something to it and it gets oversold. A mature cedar canopy catches a real share of a light rain in its foliage before the water reaches the ground, and a dense brake shades out the grass that would slow runoff and let water soak in. Take the cedar off and put grass back on and more of the rain reaches the soil. Research on Hill Country watersheds has found that the effect on springs and streamflow depends heavily on the site: it shows up most on shallow soil over fractured limestone where the water has somewhere to go, and it can be small on deeper soils or where the cedar is replaced by nothing.
So the honest version is this. Clearing cedar and getting grass established will make your ground hold more of the rain it gets, reduce runoff, and can improve seeps and springs on the right kind of ground. It is not a promise of a creek, and anyone who promises one has not looked at your soil. The mulch layer is a big part of why it works at all: it holds moisture and stops the sheet erosion that bare cleared ground suffers. The cedar mulch page covers what that layer does in the first year.
| Job | Acres | Days | Cost | Per acre, roughly |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dripping Springs cedar clearing, Tigercat, oaks kept | 34 | 14 | $50,000 to $55,000 | $1,470 to $1,620 |
| Jacksboro cedar clearing, Tigercat, heritage oaks kept | 22 | 7 | $27,000 to $28,000 | $1,230 to $1,270 |
| Hico full cedar clearing, high horsepower mulcher | 15 | $15,000 to $20,000 | $1,000 to $1,330 | |
| Llano trails and selective cedar, Weiler M860A | 5 | 2 | $8,000 to $9,000 | $1,600 to $1,800 |
| Lometa cedar and fence line, one machine day | 3 | 1 | $5,000 to $6,000 | $1,670 to $2,000 |
The pattern is the one on every clearing job: the day rate is fixed and published, and the per acre number falls as the tract gets bigger and the machine spends its day cutting instead of loading. Dense old cedar with big stems runs slower than young cedar walking into a pasture, and steep rocky ground runs slower than flat. Small tracts pay the one day minimum. The cost to clear land guide has the full table of documented jobs and the per acre arithmetic.
One thing the Dripping Springs job shows that the table does not: on a big ranch you do not have to do it all at once. That owner brings us out for two weeks every year and pushes the cedar back a little further each time, at day rates, and the ground he has already cleared stays clear because cedar does not come back.
Most Hill Country cedar is a one machine, one pass job. The mulcher works the tract in lanes, cutting the cedar at the ground and grinding the whole tree into a layer a few inches deep. Nothing is piled, nothing is burned, nothing is hauled, which matters in a county under a burn ban. The stumps are cut to an inch or two of grade and rot under the mulch; you can drive the tract the day the machine leaves. The oaks are flagged before the machine starts if the owner wants specific trees kept, and the operator works around the rest by eye.
Where the cedar is so dense the machine cannot see the oaks, we cut lanes first and open it up in stages. Where the ground is a rock ledge, the head rides higher and the cut is a little rougher. Where a pad or a road is coming, the footprint gets grubbed later with the dozer, which is separate work. And where an owner wants grass fast, the mulch layer is left in place and the native seedbank does the rest on the first spring rain; most Hill Country ground greens up without seeding.
The cedar tree removal page covers the service itself and the machines, and the Hill Country land clearing page covers where we work, from Marble Falls and Burnet to Wimberley, Blanco, Fredericksburg and Kerrville.
No permit is needed to clear cedar on rural land in Texas, and city tree ordinances do not protect cedar inside city limits either; they protect the hardwoods above a set trunk size. The two rules that do touch cedar work are the warbler habitat question above and the county burn ban, which is one more reason mulching beats burning. The permit guide covers who regulates what.
Timing is easy: cedar clears in any month because it is evergreen and the machine does not care. Fall and winter are best for the ground and the schedule, winter is when cedar fever makes people call, and mature mixed canopy in warbler range is the one thing to keep out of March through July. The best time of year guide has the full calendar. After the cedar is down, the pasture reclamation page covers turning it back into grazing.
Published rates are $3,000 per day for the skid steer mulcher with transport included and $4,000 per day plus transport for the high horsepower machine. On documented jobs that has worked out to roughly $1,250 to $1,600 an acre on tracts of 15 to 34 acres, and $1,700 to $2,000 an acre on small tracts that pay the one day minimum.
Ashe juniper, the Hill Country cedar, does not resprout from the stump. Mulched cedar ground stays clear; new seedlings can come up from the seedbank over the years and are easy to keep down. Redberry juniper, found further west and north, does resprout and needs grubbing or a follow up pass.
Usually not all of it. Leave mature mixed cedar and oak canopy in golden-cheeked warbler range, leave cedar that is holding a steep slope, and keep any cedar line you want as a screen. Clear the thickets choking the oaks, the young cedar moving into pasture, and whatever is blocking the view.
It can help on the right ground and it is oversold. Removing cedar and establishing grass lets more rain reach the soil and reduces runoff; the effect on springs and creeks depends on the site, showing up most on shallow soil over fractured limestone. It is not a promise of a creek.
No, not on rural land, and city tree ordinances do not protect cedar either. The exception is mature mixed cedar and oak canopy in warbler habitat, which is a federal wildlife question worth asking before cutting old canopy.
Any month works for the machine. Fall and winter are best for the ground and the schedule, and winter is cedar fever season, when most people decide. Avoid clearing mature mixed canopy in warbler range from March through July.
With a forestry mulcher it becomes a mulch layer a few inches deep that holds moisture and soil and breaks down over a few years. Nothing is piled, burned or hauled. Grass usually comes back from the native seedbank on the first spring rain.
Photos of the tract and the acreage. We will tell you what should go, what should stay, how many machine days it is, and what it costs.