Forestry Mulching
Forestry mulching turns brush, saplings and small trees into a layer of wood chip mulch on site. We cover Jackson, Union and Williamson counties from our base in Cobden.
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Land clearing in Harrisburg usually starts with a field or fence line that got away from you. Autumn olive and multiflora rose take the edges first, then bush honeysuckle fills in underneath. A few seasons later the old timber road is a wall of saplings. Saline County sits where farm ground gives way to timbered hills. Harrisburg calls itself the Gateway to the Shawnee National Forest. More than 270,000 acres of that forest lie south of the city. The country toward Herod stays in timber and brush. Brush grows fast in ground like that, and it grows back every year you leave it alone. Most owners around Harrisburg want to see their ground again and get a machine across it.
We are Blackburn Land Service, a land clearing outfit based in Cobden. In Harrisburg that means forestry mulching on grown-up fields and brush clearing along fence lines. The brush and small trees get ground into chips where they stand. Stumps come down to grade, and there is nothing to burn and nothing to haul away. Harrisburg is the far east edge of what we cover from Cobden. That is a real drive, a little over an hour east on Route 13. We still take the work out there. We plan those days so the machine gets a full day on your ground. We are owner operated and fully insured. Small jobs are welcome, and estimates are free.
Tell us about your land. We will get right back to you.
Harrisburg sits on the line between farm country and forest. North of town the ground runs flatter and more open toward Galatia and Eldorado. South of town it climbs into the hills of the Shawnee National Forest. The Shawnee National Forest headquarters sits on Route 145 South in Harrisburg, 62946. Garden of the Gods sits southeast of the city, off Route 34. Tracts near the forest hold timber and heavy edge growth. That edge is where land clearing work usually starts.
Saline County was coal country for most of the last century. Harrisburg was a bituminous coal hub, and the strip ground is still out there. Sahara Woods sits about five miles west of Harrisburg on old Sahara Coal Company mine land. The state holds roughly 4,100 acres there, and a good share of it is timber and brush. Reclaimed strip ground grows back thick, with scrub taking over the old cuts. Private tracts near it look the same. That is the kind of ground a mulching head handles well.
The machine is a tracked skid steer running a forestry mulching head. It cuts brush and small trees and grinds them into chips on the spot. Stumps go down to grade as the head passes over them. You end up with a mulch layer on the dirt instead of a burn pile. Nothing gets hauled off, and the chips break down over time. The tracks spread the weight, so we can work soft spots that a wheeled machine would tear up.
A lot of Saline County ground is hunted, and the tracts run south of Harrisburg. Trail cutting gives you a lane for a side by side and a way in to a stand. Hunting property improvement work thins the understory so browse and cover come back. Illinois archery deer season opens October 1, so summer is the time for that work. We also clear fence lines and field edges on the farm ground north of town. Tell us what you want the ground to do.
Communities & areas we serve around Harrisburg: Dorrisville, Ledford, Muddy, Carrier Mills, Galatia, Raleigh, Eldorado, Stonefort.
Harrisburg ZIP codes served: 62946.
Free, no-obligation estimates throughout Saline County and beyond.
(618) 697-5190 Forestry mulching turns brush, saplings and small trees into a layer of wood chip mulch on site. We cover Jackson, Union and Williamson counties from our base in Cobden.
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Brush clearing for overgrown fields, fence lines, old lots and invasive thickets across Southern Illinois. Our tracked skid steer grinds the brush into mulch on the spot, so the ground is usable the same day.
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We cut new ATV and UTV trails through wooded ground, and reopen old paths that grew shut. The mulcher leaves a chip surface you can walk or drive the same day.
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We clear shooting lanes and quiet access trails on hunting property across Southern Illinois. Selective mulching opens the ground you want open and leaves the cover that holds deer.
Learn MoreA few of the questions we hear most around Harrisburg. If yours is not here, call or text and ask.
Overgrown field, a fence line you cannot find, a trail that grew shut, or hunting ground that needs lanes? Call or text, or send the form. We will come look at the ground and give you a free estimate.
Tell us about your land. We will get right back to you.