[SpaceGhost79]

We're looking for a piece of property outside the Marquette area to build a small pole barn for a few horses. Most properties are wooded, so I'm curious to know if anyone has had their land cleared and how much per acre it cost.

[Coldjensens]

We cleared some land. We hired a hydro axe (a machine) but that prooved to be a bad idea. The grader said it would have been better to cut the tops of the trees off with a chain saw, but leave more sticking up so that the trees could be pulled out and not leave stumps/roots. These were mostly small trees - less than 12" The bigger trees had to be cut down the slow way and then the stumps removed by an excavator.

For us it cost $3500 to clear the front 1/3 of an acre lot. However there was some grading included in that figure becasue we had to make a temporary path (road) for the trucks to bring the house onto the lot. If I had to do it again, I woudl do as much of it myself as practical. It is funn to cut up trees with a chain saw.

[SpaceGhost79]

Thanks for the response. My thought was to cut as much myself, too, since I have a wood stove and can use the timber for burning, and hope that keeps the cost of just removing the stumps lower.

[Nephler]

Depending on the quality of the timber that is on your land, you may be able to sell it for some good cash.

[Coldjensens]

Originally Posted by Nephler

Depending on the quality of the timber that is on your land, you may be able to sell it for some good cash.

I looked into having a guy come with a portable sawmill to cut the trees and make lumber. We had a lot of black walnut and ash. He said that he could only use really big trees (I do not rememeber the size but we had only five or six that were big enough and that was too few). He offered to come set up the mill and make lumber to use in or house if we wanted to pay him, but he needed a lot more available lumber to make it worthwhile for him to remove them for free or to pay us for the wood.

[Sanveann]

I don't know about clearing, but make sure you check mineral rights info, as well. There's a lot of natural gas in some areas up north (I don't know about Marquette, though), and you don't want someone else drilling for natural gas a couple hundred feet from your well :P We bought land a few years ago, and I was shocked at how hard it was to find info on who owned the mineral rights to most pieces of property.

[dragon_fly_12]

From what I understand (have previously looked at other threads on horse forums for clearing land), to have it done properly for the use of horses, you're looking at a cost of $3500-8000 per acre. This would include clearing, stump removal, regrading, reseeding, etc.

The only huge problem with having the big trees removed and sold is the damage the heavy equipment will do to the ground - big ruts that will have to be graded and seeded back. If you sell the lumber, be sure to account for the cost of having the land corrected once the lumber has been taken out.

[Coldjensens]

Maybe you can leave some of the arge trees in place and just clear the smaller ones. A few trees will leave you a nicer property anyway.

[SpaceGhost79]

Originally Posted by Coldjensens

Maybe you can leave some of the arge trees in place and just clear the smaller ones. A few trees will leave you a nicer property anyway.

It partly depends where we buy. Different townships have different rules. For instance, Sands Township south of Marquette (where we would like to find something) told me the other week that they are changing their ordinance this month. The new rules for having horses on property are (1) zoned agriculture/forestry, (2) it must be at least 10 acres and (3) for every horse, you must clear 2.5 acres of property for pasture.

When I talked to Chocolay Township they never mentioned rules #2 and #3.