Lot clearing, forestry mulching, and excavation through the Hocking Valley — from the hillside lots above the Public Square to the wooded acreage out toward Buchtel, Carbon Hill, and the Wayne National Forest.
Every service Buckeye Land Clearing & Excavation offers is available in Nelsonville and throughout the surrounding Hocking Valley. One crew, one point of contact, and the same equipment on site from the first pass of the mulcher through the final grade.
Overgrown ground is the reason most Southeast Ohio properties sit unused. As your land clearing contractor, we open up lots and acreage for building, cut back brush and underbrush that has taken over pasture or hunting ground, and take out trees and stumps down to grade so the site is genuinely workable. We also handle right-of-way clearing and storm cleanup when downed timber has blocked access or made a property unsafe. Every job ends with the debris dealt with, not pushed into a pile at the tree line.
Forestry mulching clears brush and small timber in a single pass and grinds it back into the ground as mulch, so there is no burning, no hauling, and no stump field left behind. It is the fastest way to reclaim pasture, open a hunting lane, or make an overgrown parcel presentable before it goes on the market. We handle brush and vegetation mulching on smaller jobs and full land reclamation mulching on acreage that has gone years without attention. The mulch layer left behind holds soil in place and breaks down into it over the following seasons.
As excavating contractors we handle the dirt work that has to happen before anything gets built. That includes trenching for water, electric, and drainage lines, final grading and site prep so a builder can start clean, and building pads sized for residential work. We also cut in driveways and entrances and install drainage systems that move water away from structures instead of toward them. If you need land grading contractors for a finish grade rather than a full site build, that is well within what we do.
When something on the property has to come down before the real work starts, we take care of it. We handle structure demolition on outbuildings, barns, sheds, mobile homes, and small structures, and we clear the debris rather than leaving it for someone else to deal with. Because we are already on site with an excavator, adding demolition to a clearing or excavation job is usually far cheaper than bringing in a separate contractor. Ask about it when we come out for your estimate.
A septic system is often the piece that decides whether a rural parcel is buildable at all. We install new systems on cleared and excavated sites and handle repair and service work on systems that have failed or backed up. Because we do the clearing, the excavation, and the septic on the same property, the site work and the system get planned together instead of fighting each other. Ohio septic work is permitted through your county health department, and we walk you through exactly what that involves.
Brush clearing takes out the low growth — briars, saplings, volunteer scrub, and invasive shrubs like multiflora rose and autumn olive — without touching the canopy or disturbing the surface underneath. Where the root crown can be reached, we grind it below grade rather than just cutting the top, which is the difference between killing a plant and giving it a haircut it comes back thicker from. It is the practical fix for a fence row that has crept into the field, a lot you can no longer walk, or a lane that scratches every vehicle going down it. We take the small jobs, including the half-day ones most outfits will not move equipment for.
Getting started is easy. Contact us by phone or fill out our online form for a free estimate, and we’ll get back to you promptly to learn more about your project needs.
Nelsonville sits on the floor of the Hocking River valley with steep wooded hills pressing in from both sides, which is a large part of why the town looks the way it does — built tight, built up the slopes, and built on top of what came out of the ground underneath it. Coal made this place after the Columbus and Hocking Valley Railroad arrived in 1869, and the phrase “Little Cities of Black Diamonds” was coined about Nelsonville before it ever described the wider region. Clay was the other resource: Nelsonville brick went out across the country from local deposits, and the Nelsonville Yards were once the busiest rail yard in Ohio.
That history left ground that has to be treated with some respect. The Hocking Valley Coalfield was worked deep here, not just stripped, and Athens County still carries more than 5,500 abandoned mine features — portals, seeps, gob piles. Above and around all of it are steep hardwood slopes that grow back over anything you stop maintaining. The valley floor is narrow and holds water; the hillsides shed it fast. Meanwhile Nelsonville has done something few former coal towns manage — it turned into a destination. The US 33 bypass that businesses feared took the through traffic away and left a Public Square worth stopping in, with Stuart’s Opera House, the Rocky outlet, Hocking College and Robbins Crossing up the road, and the newly finished Baileys Trail System pulling riders to the Buchtel-Snow Fork trailhead just east of town.
Buckeye Land Clearing & Excavation is owner-operated by Stuart Smith, who has spent more than 30 years in construction and runs the equipment himself on every job. We work out of Chesterhill and cover Nelsonville, the surrounding hill communities, and the valley in both directions along US 33 and SR 78. Residential lots on steep ground, recreational and hunting acreage bordering the Wayne National Forest, and real estate parcels being cleaned up to sell make up most of what we do here.
We walk the property with you, look at what is actually there — timber size, slope, wet ground, access — and talk through what you want the land to do when it is finished. You get a clear price with no obligation, and no charge for the visit. If financing makes the project easier, we go over those options at the same time.
We confirm the boundaries, mark anything staying, and locate utilities before a blade touches the ground. If your project needs a permit — a septic system, a drainage tie-in, a right-of-way — we tell you exactly what is required and who to file with. Nothing starts until you know the plan and the price.
This is the work itself — cutting brush and trees, mulching the material back into the soil, pulling stumps, digging trenches, shaping drainage. You get the owner on the equipment for every hour of it, and a call at the end of each day if anything on site changes the plan.
This is the work itself — cutting brush and trees, mulching the material back into the soil, pulling stumps, digging trenches, shaping drainage. You get the owner on the equipment for every hour of it, and a call at the end of each day if anything on site changes the plan.
We set the final grade so water runs where it should, clear the debris, and leave the site ready for whatever comes next — a builder, a seed drill, or a for-sale sign. Then we walk the property with you before the equipment goes on the trailer, so nothing is left unfinished or unsaid.
Nelsonville’s steep hillsides, narrow valleys, and historic mining landscape require careful planning for land clearing and excavation projects. Proper drainage, erosion control, and site access are essential, especially on sloped properties where thin soils and rocky ground can create additional challenges.
Buckeye provides forestry mulching, land clearing, excavation, site preparation, and recreational property improvements throughout the Nelsonville area. Whether you’re preparing a homesite, opening hunting trails, or reclaiming overgrown land, we tailor our approach to the property’s terrain.
We also help clients understand local permitting and environmental requirements and often recommend late fall or winter for hillside clearing, when ground conditions are typically more stable for heavy equipment.
Whether your property is on a hill above the Public Square, out a county road toward Buchtel and Carbon Hill, or on acreage backing onto the Wayne National Forest, we will come look at it and tell you straight what it will take. Estimates are free, and we cover Nelsonville and the whole Hocking Valley from Logan down to Athens.
Buckeye is built on more than 30 years of hands-on construction experience. Owner Stuart has worked in the construction industry for decades, including running his own electrical contracting company throughout the 2000s, bringing a level of knowledge and problem-solving that goes far beyond the age of the equipment. When you work with Buckeye, the person who visits your property to provide the estimate is the same person who completes the job, ensuring clear communication and consistent results from start to finish. Because the excavator, brush cutter, and mulcher are company-owned rather than rented, projects can be scheduled more flexibly without the pressure of rental deadlines affecting decisions on your property. Buckeye also understands that land improvement projects can be a significant investment, which is why financing options are available to help make the cost more manageable by allowing payments to be spread out over time.
We provide land clearing services, forestry mulching, and excavation across a 60-mile radius from our base in Chesterhill — roughly an hour and a half in any direction. That covers Muskingum, Noble, Washington, Athens, Perry, Guernsey, and Fairfield counties, along with the towns and cities below.
Slope is the biggest single factor here. An acre of light brush on relatively level ground is nothing like an acre of mature hardwood on a hillside with a tight entrance off a county road, and around Nelsonville most acreage is the second kind. Timber density, stump removal, whether material is mulched in place or hauled out, and how equipment reaches the property all move the number. We do not publish a per-acre rate because on this terrain it would be wrong more often than right. We come look at the property and give you a real figure before anything starts.
Usually, and access is the first thing we assess rather than the last. Hill properties around Nelsonville, Buchtel, and Carbon Hill often combine a narrow entrance, a sharp grade off the road, and a culvert that limits what can come in. We plan the route in, the working platform, and how material comes back out before committing equipment. We also plan the drainage at the same time, because clearing a slope without deciding where the water goes is the fastest way to ruin a hillside lot. If a property cannot be worked safely, we will tell you that on the estimate.
Yes, and it is a growing part of the work here. The Wayne National Forest wraps around Nelsonville with more than 300 miles of trail, and the Baileys Trail System completed all 88 miles across the Athens Unit with its newest trailhead at Buchtel-Snow Fork just east of town. Private acreage bordering that country is worth more when it is usable, so we cut shooting lanes and access trails, open food plots, and mulch back overgrown stands. To be clear on the boundary: we work private property. Anything on national forest ground goes through the Forest Service, not through us.
It depends on scale and location. Once earth disturbance reaches one acre — or less if the work is part of a larger common plan of development — the job needs coverage under the Ohio EPA construction stormwater general permit along with a stormwater pollution prevention plan. Work near the Hocking River or any creek falls under Ohio Revised Code 6111.315, which limits stream access points and keeps heavy equipment above the ordinary high water mark. Septic goes through the county health district. We will tell you which of these apply to your job before you commit.
It is often the best choice on steep ground, for one specific reason: it leaves the soil covered. The mulcher grinds brush and small trees into a mat that stays where it falls, holding the hillside while ground cover regrows, with no burn pile and nothing to haul. Bare dirt on a Hocking Valley slope is a washout waiting for the next storm. Mulching is right for brush, saplings, and overgrown pasture. Where you need mature timber removed, stumps out, or bare ground for a foundation, conventional clearing and excavation is the correct tool — most properties here need some of each.
It is worth knowing about before work starts. The Hocking Valley Coalfield was deep-mined around Nelsonville, and Athens County still carries more than 5,500 abandoned mine features. Deep-mined ground can settle differently than undisturbed ground, and old surface features — portals, seeps, gob piles — turn up on properties where nobody expected them. We plan access and grading with that in mind and will tell you if we see something on your property worth investigating further. What we do not do is mine remediation or subsidence engineering; that is specialist work and we will point you to it rather than guess.
Late fall through winter, and on this terrain that matters more than most places. The leaves come off so you can actually read a hillside before working it, brush goes dormant, and frozen ground carries a machine on a slope where soft ground would rut and slide. Spring is the hardest window — thawing clay on a grade is difficult and slow, and the valley floor stays wet. We work year-round, but if your project can wait for cold weather, you will get a better result for the same money.
Yes — all of them, along with Glouster, Jacksonville, Millfield, Chauncey, and down the valley to The Plains and Athens. Our range is about 60 miles from Chesterhill, which also takes in Logan, Murray City, and New Straitsville to the west, Corning and New Lexington to the north, and McConnelsville and Malta to the east. If you are not sure whether your property falls inside that, call and ask — it is a quick answer.
