Hill country timber
The USDA soil description for the Grenada series, a loess soil that shares the town's name, lists mixed hardwoods including oaks, beech, hickory, elm and tulip poplar, with loblolly and shortleaf pine farther south in its range. Around Grenada you see all of that, plus pine plantations and cutover ground that has come back in sweetgum, briars and young pine. Lots of tracts are bought for homesites or hunting and need opening up.
Select clearing is popular on hill land. We take out the underbrush, vines and junk trees and leave the hardwoods and pines you want for shade, mast or looks. The mulcher is a good tool for that because it can work between trees. For a full clear on a homesite or a field, larger timber can be pushed and windrowed with the track loader.
Slopes, loess and erosion
Loess soils are silty and wash easily once the cover is gone. The Grenada soil series also has a fragipan, a dense layer usually 18 to 36 inches down that perches water in wet seasons. That means a cleared hillside can shed water fast on top while the ground below stays soggy. Clearing a steep slope bare and leaving it can start gullies by the next spring.
We talk through slope and water before we start. Mulching leaves a layer of ground-up wood that helps hold soil. Lanes and trails can be laid out to follow the ground instead of running straight downhill. If you are clearing for a house, pond or shop, plan the drainage with the clearing so the dirt stays where you want it.
Burning, permits and 811
MDEQ's open burning rule does not allow land-clearing debris to be burned within 500 yards of an occupied dwelling unless a forced-draft air system, like an air curtain burner, is used, and never within 50 yards. Burning is also off during a Forestry Commission High Fire Danger Alert, a county burn ban, or where local ordinances prohibit it. Hill timber near homes often cannot be burned at all.
The Mississippi Forestry Commission's burn permits are for forestry and agricultural burns, and MFC says land-clearing burns follow local ordinances. Check with Grenada County, or the City of Grenada inside city limits, about your property. Before stumps get dug or any ground is excavated, Mississippi 811 needs at least two working days of notice.
