Do you do land clearing in Havana and northeastern Gadsden County?

Yes, we come over from our base in Monticello, about 33 miles east, inside the roughly 40-mile radius we cover. That covers land toward Hinson on US 27 and toward Lake Tallavana on State Road 12. On the Leon County side of the river, we also work in Bradfordville and Tallahassee . Call or text (850) 815-0054.

What drives the price of land clearing around Havana?

The biggest factors are how thick the brush is and how big the trees are. Around Havana, ground comes next, since sandy soils and soft ground near the river call for different machines. A forestry mulching job is priced differently from full clearing, where stumps come out and debris gets hauled. Our land clearing cost per acre guide shows market ranges, and we give free on-site estimates.

Can you clear creek banks and low ground on the Ochlockonee side of the county?

Yes, that is the job for the excavator mulcher. The excavator parks on solid footing and swings the mulching head down to the bank. Where standing water is the real problem, we can also dig or clean out drainage ditches to move it off.

Can you open up pasture or an old field that has grown up in brush?

Yes. Gadsden County farms hold more woodland than pasture, per the 2022 farm census. Forestry mulching grinds brush and small trees in place and leaves a mulch layer on the ground. Full land clearing takes the growth out, stumps included, when the ground is going back to pasture or crops.

Can you dig or clean out a pond on land near Havana?

Yes. We dig new ponds, enlarge or reshape existing ones, and clean out ponds that have silted in. Before digging starts, the site gets called in to Sunshine 811. Call or text (850) 815-0054 to set up a free estimate.

Land Clearing in Havana, FL | Lot Clearing, Ponds and Farm Roads

Land Clearing and Excavation for Havana Landowners

Havana sits on US 27 in northeastern Gadsden County, 16 miles up the highway from the center of Tallahassee. The town is known today for its antiques and art galleries. Outside town the county still has hundreds of farms, and more farm acreage is woods than pasture or crops. When a pasture edge or an old field sits idle, brush and young trees close it in.

EM Land Services is based in Monticello, about 33 miles east, and we come over to Havana from there. Land clearing in Havana is the main job, along with forestry mulching and excavator mulching on wet banks. We also dig ponds and drainage ditches, build gravel driveways and farm roads, and haul off debris. Call or text (850) 815-0054 for a free estimate.

What We Do in Havana

Clearing farm and woodland around Havana

The 2022 Census of Agriculture counted 489 farms in Gadsden County, on 71,544 acres. The average farm ran 146 acres. More of that land was woodland than anything else: 29,032 acres, against 18,542 in pasture and 15,125 in cropland.

Ground changes from one tract to the next. The county's published soil survey maps sandy soils where most of the ground is wooded. It rates some of those soils well suited to improved bermudagrass pasture, and some not well suited to shade tobacco.

That mix shapes how a job runs. On firm sandy ground the machines work in most conditions, while soft low spots need a different plan. Along pasture, fence rows are often where brush and vines take hold first. We open them back up with fence line clearing, so the fence can be seen and repaired.

Old tobacco country, homesites and roads near Havana

Shade tobacco farming began in Gadsden County around 1829. The county was long known for that crop, and today it is a thing of the past. Havana itself is a small town, with 1,753 people at the 2020 census.

St. Hebron borders Havana, with St. John and Scottown beside it. Hinson lies north of town on US 27, near Potter-Woodbury Road. Lake Tallavana sits two miles west on State Road 12. It is a logging community, and its lake was enlarged from 40 acres to 160.

State Road 12 runs 12 miles west to Quincy, the county seat, and US 27 heads north toward Georgia. For a homesite off either road, lot clearing takes out underbrush, trees, stumps and debris. That leaves the lot open and ready for the next step. A long lane back to the house site is where gravel driveways and farm roads come in.

Wet ground on the Ochlockonee side of the county

The Ochlockonee River runs 206 miles from Georgia down to Ochlockonee Bay. It forms the eastern boundary of Gadsden County and the western boundary of Leon County. Havana sits on that eastern side, in the northeast part of the county. Jackson Bluff Dam was built on the river in 1927, and the water behind it formed Lake Talquin.

Most of the Lake Talquin State Forest lies along the river and the lake, across Gadsden, Leon and Liberty counties. The Florida Forest Service lists floodplain forests and swamps there, among rolling pine hills. Its tree list includes longleaf and loblolly pine, sweetgum, red maple, swamp tupelo and bald cypress. Both the river and the lake are Outstanding Florida Waters.

On the river side of the county, low and soft ground is where a skid steer bogs down. We run a mulching head on the excavator as well as the skid steer. The boom reaches down a creek bank or pond edge while the machine stays on firm ground above. That is excavator mulching, and it pairs with pond construction when a wet spot would work better as a pond.

Storm debris and brush piles

Hurricane Michael came ashore near Tyndall Air Force Base on October 10, 2018, as a Category 5 storm. The National Weather Service says it stayed at Category 3 strength into southwest Georgia. Across Florida, almost 3 million acres of forest land were damaged.

When a storm drops trees across a tract near Havana, the cleanup is land work. We handle debris removal for land and storm debris, and stump removal for root balls the storm pulled up. We load brush and limbs with the excavator or skid steer and haul them off in a dump truck. Old brush piles already sitting on a property can go out the same way.