Land Clearing in Jackson, AL

Land clearing in Clarke County timber country

The Alabama Forestry Commission's 2024 Forest Resource Report counts about 737,600 acres of timberland in Clarke County. No county in Alabama has more. Loblolly pine holds far more standing timber here than red oak or sweetgum. State severance tax records in the same report show about 1.7 million tons of timber cut here in 2024.

That harvest leaves cutover ground behind, and storms add downed timber. Clarke County drew federal disaster declarations after Hurricane Sally and Hurricane Zeta in 2020. For a house or a pasture, the tree shear drops the trees and the root rake pulls the stumps. The debris goes on our own trucks and off the property.

Land you are not building on can keep its cover. There, forestry mulching grinds the brush and small trees where they stand. The mulch stays on the ground, and the pine you want to keep stays standing.

House pads above the Tombigbee bottoms

Jackson sits on the east bank of the Tombigbee. In the NRCS soil survey, nearly a quarter of Clarke County's acres fall in soils that flood. Smithdale, the county's most common soil series, is deep, well-drained loamy ground on ridges and hill slopes. Luverne comes next, with a firm red clay subsoil that water moves through slowly.

The National Weather Service gauge on the Tombigbee near Leroy puts flood stage at 24 feet. At that level, low farm and pasture land starts to go under. At 30 feet, water approaches roads on the west side of Jackson. The river passed flood stage in 2025 and again in 2026.

FEMA's current flood maps for Jackson and Clarke County took effect in July 2012. Check your lot on the map before you plan a house in low ground. On high ground, we clear the lot and build a house pad shaped to shed water.

Mill yards and industrial ground in Jackson

The city says Jackson was once known as a timber town and now has a diverse mix of industry. ADEM's air permit file describes a pulp and paper mill in Jackson. It cooks hardwood and softwood chips into pulp for paper and paperboard.

Mill and plant yards need civil work a house lot never sees. Yards get graded to drain, and pads go down for buildings and equipment. Haul roads and log yards have to carry loaded trucks. That is our civil work for mills and plants, with material hauled on and off site in our own trucks.

Alabama rules and utilities on a Jackson job

Alabama law says to call Alabama 811 before digging, so the utilities can mark their lines first. Inside the city, Jackson Water Works runs the water and sewer service. Ask them where their part of a new line ends before the trench goes in. We lay water and sewer lines and backfill the trench as part of our underground utilities work.

Out in the county, a house lot without sewer needs a soil test before a septic permit. The application goes to the county health department. A licensed septic installer puts the system in, and that is a separate trade.

In Alabama, ADEM and the Alabama Forestry Commission both have rules for burning land clearing debris. ADEM allows it only on the property where the brush was cut, at least 500 feet from an occupied house. The fire has to start between 8 a.m. and 3 p.m. On our jobs, the brush and stumps go on our own trucks, and mulched ground keeps its mulch.