Land Clearing
Clearing wooded and overgrown acreage, lots and pasture with an excavator and a skid steer, from underbrush and dead trees to stumps and debris.
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Land around Crawfordville closes in fast. The pine flatwoods here grow a thick understory of saw palmetto, gallberry and titi. On the low spots water sits after a hard rain, and the brush gets heavier every season. Owners call when a tract they used to drive through has grown shut.
EM Land Services is based in Monticello, about 38 miles northeast of Crawfordville. Land clearing is the main work here, on wooded acreage and on building lots. We also mulch brush, dig ponds, cut drainage ditches and build gravel drives. Estimates are free, so call or text (850) 815-0054.
Tell us about the job. We will get right back to you.
Most private land around Crawfordville is flatwoods on flat, sandy ground. The canopy runs to slash pine, longleaf pine and pond pine. Under it sits a shrub layer of saw palmetto, gallberry, fetterbush and wax myrtle. On the wetter flats, titi and black titi grow thick enough to stop a person.
The soil is the other half of the story. Flatwoods sand often carries a dark, weakly cemented hardpan a foot or more down. Water perches on that layer instead of soaking away. The ground stays soft and the shrubs stay happy.
Brush gets worst where fire has been out of a tract for years. Shrubs take over the ground layer and crowd out the grass. Forestry mulching grinds that layer down in place and leaves a mulch mat behind. Where the stems are too big or the roots have to come out, we clear the ground instead.
Wakulla County keeps growing. State economic estimates put the county near 38,200 people in 2025, up about 13 percent from the 2020 census. Even so, it runs about 63 people per square mile against roughly 436 for Florida. Growth here lands as houses on rural acreage rather than dense subdivisions.
The same state figures count 518 residential building permits in the county in 2025 and 468 in 2024. That is steady work on wooded parcels. Clearing a building lot means taking out the underbrush, small trees, stumps and roots. We do that kind of lot work around Crawfordville, Shadeville, Medart, Arran and Newport.
Wakulla County's land development code says clearing a site needs an approved landscape and tree removal plan. The code lists exemptions, such as single family detached residential lots and bona fide agricultural operations. Check the county planning office about your own parcel. If the job includes digging, call 811 first so Sunshine 811 can mark utilities.
Crawfordville sits on the Woodville Karst Plain, sand laid over limestone. Groundwater has eaten that rock into caves, sinks and springs. Wakulla Springs, five miles east of town, is one of the largest freshwater springs in the world. Ground like this drains hard in one spot and holds water in the next.
Low ground and soft banks are where a skid steer bogs down. We run a mulching head on the excavator as well as the skid steer. The reach keeps the machine's tracks on firm footing while it works down a bank. It is precise enough to take the brush and leave the trees you want kept.
Flat land over a hardpan means water stands rather than moves. We cut new drainage ditches and swales and clean out old ones so pastures, fields and drives shed water. Parts of the county also border the Apalachicola National Forest and the St. Marks refuge. Wetland rules apply near creeks and marsh there, so check those lines before dirt moves.
Wakulla County runs down to Apalachee Bay and takes coastal storms head on. Hermine came ashore just east of St. Marks on September 2, 2016. The National Weather Service called it the first Apalachee Bay hurricane since 1966. Trees and power lines came down across the Big Bend and power stayed out for days.
Helene landed late on September 26, 2024, about ten miles west southwest of Perry. It came in as a category four. Water levels hit about 6.8 feet above the high water mark at Shell Point and Spring Creek. Rain ran 4 to 8 inches, and parts of the Apalachicola National Forest took 10 to 18 inches.
Storms like that leave limbs, brush and whole trees across rural property. Cleanup here is machine work on the ground. We load brush, limbs, stumps and downed trees with the excavator or the skid steer. Then we haul it off with a dump truck and dump trailer, and the ground is left clean.
Communities and areas we serve around Crawfordville: Crawfordville Highway, Shadeville, Medart, Arran, Newport, Sopchoppy, Panacea, St. Marks, Spring Creek, Smith Creek, Wakulla Springs, Apalachicola National Forest.
Crawfordville ZIP codes served: 32327, 32326.
Free estimates throughout Wakulla County and the surrounding area.
(850) 815-0054 Clearing wooded and overgrown acreage, lots and pasture with an excavator and a skid steer, from underbrush and dead trees to stumps and debris.
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We mulch brush, underbrush and small trees in place with a skid steer mulching head and an excavator mulching head. The wood stays on the ground as mulch, so the tract opens up without burn piles or hauling.
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We run a mulching head on the excavator boom to clear ditch banks, creek banks and pond edges. The machine works from firm ground above, so the soft ground below stays put.
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We clear building lots and homesites down to open, usable ground. Brush, trees, stumps and debris come off so the next step can start.
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We clear brush, vines and saplings off farm and pasture fence rows so the fence can be seen and worked on. The excavator reaches in from the side and keeps the machine off your wire.
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General land excavation with the excavator: digging and shaping ground, pulling stumps and roots, cutting ditches and moving dirt. Free on-site estimates around Monticello and about 40 miles out.
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We dig new ponds and small lakes on private land around Monticello. As a pond contractor we also reshape banks and clean out ponds that have silted in.
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We build and rebuild gravel driveways, farm roads and access roads on rural property. We clear the route, shape a crowned base, cut ditches and lay gravel or limerock.
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We dig new drainage ditches and clean out old ones so standing water leaves your land. Excavator work on pastures, fields, lots and driveways around Monticello.
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We haul land debris off your property with a dump truck and dump trailer. Brush piles, limbs, stumps, logs and storm debris get loaded with a machine and taken away.
Learn MoreA few of the questions we hear most around Crawfordville. If yours is not here, call or text and ask.
Tell us where the property is and what you want cleared. Call or text (850) 815-0054, or send the form and we will set up a free estimate.
Tell us about the job. We will get right back to you.