Tracks & Buckets

Land Clearing in Southern Wisconsin

  • 149 local crews
  • $500–$5,600
  • 5 counties

149 local crews offer land clearing across Dane, Rock, Jefferson, Green, and Waukesha counties. In Dane County you can trip the county erosion-control permit by clearing less than a tenth of an acre — so even a modest building-site job near Madison usually starts with a permit conversation, not a chainsaw.

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149 land clearing operators in southern Wisconsin

These are local crews that offer land clearing — confirm availability, coverage area, and pricing directly.

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Land Clearing: costs, rules & FAQ

Expect roughly $500–$5,600 — typically priced per acre; small jobs sometimes quoted hourly. national cost-guide range for clearing one acre (not WI-specific): $500–$2,000 lightly wooded, $3,600–$5,600 heavily forested; excludes permits, stump hauling, and site-prep extras. (source) Access, terrain, and job size move the price — get two or three local quotes.

Land clearing removes trees, brush, stumps, and undergrowth from a parcel so it can be used — for a building site, driveway, pasture, food plot, or just a usable yard. It ranges from mowing down light brush with a skid steer to taking out mature timber with heavy equipment. In Wisconsin it usually comes bundled with grading and erosion-control obligations.

Best time of year: Late winter into early spring — frozen ground carries heavy equipment without rutting (WI timber-sale contracts on wet sites restrict work to frozen-ground months for exactly this reason), and clearing before April protects oaks from the DNR's April–July oak wilt window

Equipment crews use

  • Skid steer / compact track loader with grapple (brush and debris handling)
  • Forestry mulcher attachment (grinds brush in place — no burn pile)
  • Excavator with thumb (stumps, larger trees, grading)
  • Bulldozer (heavy clearing on larger acreage)
  • Stump grinder (finishing stumps below grade)
  • Chainsaws and chipper (selective felling and cleanup)

Permit thresholds here are low: Dane County requires an erosion-control permit once you disturb more than 4,000 sq ft of ground (under a tenth of an acre) — or move 400+ cubic yards, or build an access drive over 125 ft. Waukesha County's trigger is just 3,000 sq ft, with a separate permit for tree removal near lakes and streams. Statewide, disturbing an acre or more needs DNR stormwater permit coverage filed 14 working days ahead. And before clearing anything low or wet, check the DNR wetland map — wetland fill or excavation needs its own authorization. Thresholds vary by county; check yours before the chainsaw comes out. (official source)

Roughly $500–$5,600 (national cost-guide range for clearing one acre (not WI-specific): $500–$2,000 lightly wooded, $3,600–$5,600 heavily forested; excludes permits, stump hauling, and site-prep extras). Pricing is usually per acre; small jobs sometimes quoted hourly. Get two or three local quotes — access, terrain, and job size move the price.

Permit thresholds here are low: Dane County requires an erosion-control permit once you disturb more than 4,000 sq ft of ground (under a tenth of an acre) — or move 400+ cubic yards, or build an access drive over 125 ft. Waukesha County's trigger is just 3,000 sq ft, with a separate permit for tree removal near lakes and streams. Statewide, disturbing an acre or more needs DNR stormwater permit coverage filed 14 working days ahead. And before clearing anything low or wet, check the DNR wetland map — wetland fill or excavation needs its own authorization. Thresholds vary by county; check yours before the chainsaw comes out.

149 local crews across Dane, Rock, Jefferson, Green, and Waukesha counties offer land clearing. Confirm availability, coverage area, and pricing with each — the listing means they surface for this work, and the final fit is a phone call.

Late winter into early spring — frozen ground carries heavy equipment without rutting (WI timber-sale contracts on wet sites restrict work to frozen-ground months for exactly this reason), and clearing before April protects oaks from the DNR's April–July oak wilt window

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