Do I need a permit to clear land on my own property in West Virginia?

There is no single land clearing permit in West Virginia. What triggers paperwork is the size of the disturbance and what sits on the ground. Clearing under an acre usually needs nothing filed. That holds when no stream, no mapped floodplain and no build are involved.

How much land can I clear before a permit is required?

One acre of disturbed ground is the state line. WV DEP requires a construction stormwater permit for sites that disturb one acre or more. Smaller sites count when they belong to a larger common plan of development. Berkeley County adds its own land disturbance permit, and Virginia sets a lower floor.

Can I burn the brush piles after clearing?

Only inside the rules. Burning is legal from 5 p.m. to 7 a.m. during the two fire seasons. Those run March 1 to May 31 and October 1 to December 31. Every pile needs a cleared safety strip at least 10 feet wide, watched until it is cold. Brush cleared to prepare ground for building counts as land clearing debris under the state air quality rule, and burning it takes WV DEP approval.

Do I need a permit to clear along a creek or a stream?

Clearing brush on dry ground beside a creek is a different job from working in it. Activity in the stream itself needs a right of entry from the WVDNR Office of Land and Streams. Filling a stream or a wetland adds an Army Corps Section 404 permit. Work in the mapped floodplain also needs a floodplain permit from the county.

Do I need a permit for a new driveway off the road?

Yes, where the drive ties into a state road, and most rural roads here are state maintained. The Division of Highways issues a free encroachment permit on Form MM-109. Apply through the district or county permit office. The agency warns that installing a drive without one can bring a fine or removal.

What permits do I need if I am building a house after the clearing?

More than the clearing alone takes. In Hampshire County, the health department requires a septic permit before any building permit is issued. The planning office then issues the building permit, and asks for floodplain documents where they apply. Talk to both offices early, because the septic location often decides where the house sits.

Does Marloy Hill Enterprise handle the permits?

No. We clear, dig and grade, and the landowner or the builder applies for permits. The office that issues each one has the final say. Before work starts we can point out what we see on the ground that may need a permit. Estimates are free, so call or text (540) 327-1400.

Do You Need a Permit to Clear Land in West Virginia?

For most private land clearing in West Virginia, there is no single land clearing permit. No state office issues one. What pulls a permit in is what the clearing is for and where the ground sits.

Five things drive it. How much dirt gets disturbed. Whether a stream or a mapped floodplain is in the way. How the brush piles get burned. Whether a new drive ties into a public road. What gets built after the ground opens up.

Clear a few acres of grown up pasture and walk away, and you may file nothing. Most land clearing in Augusta and Hampshire County hits at least one trigger.

Which clearing jobs pull a permit, and who issues it?

Match the job to the office. Clearing under an acre, with no stream and no build behind it, usually needs nothing filed. Add an acre of disturbance, a creek, a floodplain, a road entrance or a new structure. Then a named permit shows up. Check with the office listed before work starts.

What you want to do	Permit or notice that may apply	Who issues it
Clear under an acre, nothing built after	Usually none, but erosion control still expected	WV DEP, if runoff reaches a stream
Clear an acre or more for a lot or a pad	Construction Stormwater General Permit WV0115924	WV DEP, Division of Water and Waste Management
Put a machine in a creek or stream	Stream activity application and right of entry	WVDNR Office of Land and Streams
Place fill in a stream or a wetland	Section 404 permit and 401 certification	Army Corps district office, with WV DEP
Grade, fill or build in the mapped floodplain	Floodplain permit	County floodplain administrator
Burn the brush piles	None if season and hour rules are followed; brush cleared to build on needs DEP approval first	WV Division of Forestry; WV DEP Division of Air Quality
Cut a new drive onto a state road	Encroachment permit, Form MM-109	WV Division of Highways permit office
Dig anywhere on the tract	Free utility locate, two business days ahead	WV811
Sell the timber that comes off	Timbering notification, and a license above the sales line	WV Division of Forestry

How much ground can you disturb before the state steps in?

One acre. WV DEP requires a construction stormwater permit for sites that disturb one acre or more. Smaller sites count when they are part of a larger common plan of development. The permit defines construction activity as land disturbing operations such as grubbing, grading, filling and excavation during site development.

Clearing tied to a build counts toward the acre. Clearing a field that stays a field is a different animal.

The permit is WV0115924, reissued in 2024 and running to 2029. From one acre up to three acres you file a Notice of Intent, the minor construction track. Above three acres it takes a full site registration application.

Under an acre you still owe the ground erosion control. DEP’s stream guide says small projects stay subject to the state Water Pollution Control Act.

Hampshire County drains to the Chesapeake Bay. DEP makes sites in eight eastern counties file a Bay addendum with the application. Berkeley, Grant, Hampshire, Hardy, Jefferson, Mineral, Morgan and Pendleton are on that list.

Do you need a permit to clear along a creek?

Yes, once the work touches the stream itself. Activity in a river or stream needs a right of entry from the WVDNR Office of Land and Streams. The stream activity application goes in before any equipment is placed in the stream. DEP’s stream guide lists the permit cost as none and the usual wait as five to seven business days.

Filling a stream or a wetland adds a federal layer. That is a Clean Water Act Section 404 permit from the Army Corps of Engineers. DEP adds a Section 401 water quality certification. West Virginia is split between Corps district offices, so ask which one covers your county.

Grading, fill and stream crossings also count as development under floodplain rules. Drain lines that carry water away from a house usually stay clear of all of it.

Can you burn the brush after clearing?

Only inside a set window. West Virginia Code 20-3-5 sets two forest fire seasons. They run March 1 through May 31, and October 1 through December 31. During those seasons, outdoor burning is legal only between 5 p.m. and 7 a.m. The fire has to be out by 7 a.m.

The Division of Forestry fills in the rest. Every pile needs a cleared safety strip at least 10 feet wide. Someone stays with the fire until it is cold. Only vegetative material goes in the pile.

Clearing to build adds one more step. The state air quality rule, 45CSR6, calls brush cleared to prepare land for development or construction land clearing debris. Burning it takes approval from the WV DEP, and only when there is no practical alternate way to dispose of it. The full set of rules is in our guide to West Virginia burn laws.

A forest fire caused by negligence draws a fine of $100 to $1,000, plus a $200 civil penalty. Commercial burning is its own track, at $125 per site through a Forestry regional office. Forestry also calls for a spark arrestor on spark throwing machinery on land subject to fire. Debris handling also shows up in what land clearing costs per acre.

Do you need a permit for a new driveway onto the road?

Yes, where the drive ties into a state road, and nearly every rural road out here is state maintained. The Division of Highways calls it an encroachment permit, Form MM-109. The agency says the permit is free of charge from any Division office and required by state law.

Applications go to the district or county permit office. The Division warns that unauthorized driveway installation can bring a fine, or removal by Highways crews.

Settle the entrance before anyone prices the drive. The width, the shape and any pipe move with what the district approves. That holds whether the job is cutting in a new gravel drive or widening an old one.

What does Hampshire County ask for?

Two offices, mostly. The planning office in Romney handles building permits and the county floodplain ordinance. The health department handles septic. The floodplain rule reaches wide. Development or new construction in the county needs a permit from the floodplain administrator.

The building permit packet shows what the county wants. A copy of the septic permit for new homes. For a tract in the mapped floodplain, a plat showing the building site.

Septic comes first in the order. The health department states that a septic permit must be obtained before any building permit will be issued. Where the drain field goes often decides where the house goes, and where you clear.

What are the rules in Berkeley County and across the Virginia line?

Tighter, in both places. Berkeley County requires a land disturbance permit from the county engineer. It starts at one acre of disturbance, or at 5,000 square feet of new impervious cover under set conditions. The county ordinance excludes the City of Martinsburg itself, so inside city limits ask the city.

Berkeley carves out farm and forestry work, plus logging by licensed loggers under the Division of Forestry.

Virginia sets a lower floor. State rules regulate land disturbance of 10,000 square feet or more. Inside a Chesapeake Bay Preservation Area the number drops to 2,500 square feet. A locality is allowed to drop it further.

Virginia also exempts clearing of lands specifically for bona fide agricultural purposes. Frederick County, the city of Winchester and Warren County each run their own program. Confirm the threshold with the office that issues the permit before clearing near Winchester or Front Royal.

What if you are selling the timber that comes off?

Then a second set of rules applies. West Virginia’s Logging Sediment Control Act calls for notice to the Division of Forestry. That covers timbering operations and severing trees for sale. The notice is due at least three days before the operation starts.

A license is required to conduct timbering operations, buy timber, or buy logs for resale. A person cutting standing trees on their own land is exempt from that license. The exemption holds while the calendar year’s total gross sales value stays under $52,000.

We do not log and we do not buy timber. When a timber buyer takes wood off a tract, that notice is their job.

What should you sort out before the machines show up?

Call WV811 first. State law asks for at least two business days notice before digging, and the locate costs nothing. Tickets cannot be placed more than 10 business days ahead of the dig.

We clear ground and shape it. That covers excavation work like trenches and cut in lanes, and grading and site prep once the brush is off. The landowner or the builder files the permits. We point out what we see on the ground that may need one.

Estimates are free. We work Hampshire County, the rest of the Eastern Panhandle and the northern Shenandoah Valley from our base in Augusta. Call or text (540) 327-1400.