Forestry Mulching
We grind standing brush, saplings and small trees into mulch with a mulcher head on our tracked loader. The chips stay on the ground and hold the soil in place.
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Ground grows over fast in the Patterson Creek valley. Old pasture on the slopes above town fills in with multiflora rose, autumn olive, briars and saplings. Fence rows on the bottomland farms close in until the wire disappears. A field that was cut for hay a few seasons back can be solid brush today.
Marloy Hill Enterprise is a land clearing and excavation company based in Augusta, in Hampshire County. Fort Ashby sits about 15 miles northwest of us, up the Patterson Creek valley in Mineral County. We open overgrown ground, pull stumps, dig trenches and grade, and forestry mulching turns standing brush into chips. Call or text (540) 327-1400 for a free estimate on your ground.
Tell us about the job and the ground. We will get right back to you.
Patterson Creek runs 51 miles from Grant County to the North Branch Potomac east of Cumberland. It drains about two thirds of Mineral County, and Fort Ashby sits right on it. Headsville, Reeses Mill and Champwood are upstream along the same water.
The valley floor here is close to 600 feet, and most of it is farm bottomland. Knobly Mountain runs along the west side of the valley and tops 1,800 feet. Patterson Creek Mountain runs south from near Springfield, with the creek along its west flank.
Bottomland near the creek clears quick but can be soft after rain. Ground up on the hillsides is stonier and slower to work. We haul a mini excavator and a tracked loader with a mulcher head on our own trailer. Cutting and digging then happen on one trip.
Route 46 runs west out of Fort Ashby up the creek toward Champwood, Reeses Mill and Headsville. Route 28 runs north toward Short Gap and Wiley Ford and south toward Springfield. Hay ground and small farms line both roads.
Fence rows that were kept clear fill back in within a few seasons. Multiflora rose and autumn olive take the edges first, then briars and saplings close the gap. The brush cutter on our mini excavator reaches up banks, over fences and into corners a tractor cannot reach. That is the tool for brush hogging rough pasture back to mowable ground.
Wooded tracts are a different job. Standing saplings and understory grind down into a chip layer that stays on the ground. On a hillside above the valley that layer holds the soil in place through a hard rain.
A lot of the land around Fort Ashby moves in big pieces. The Bluffs on the Potomac is a gated development of 20 plus acre tracts. It spans the Mineral and Hampshire county line, and many of its lots carry Fort Ashby addresses. Buyers get woods and a hunting spot, then need a way in and a place to build.
That work starts with clearing a lane from the road and opening a pad. Then comes rough grading and site prep so the spot sheds water and sits level. A gravel drive cut in and crowned keeps the lane usable when the ground is wet.
Mineral County wants a building permit for houses, cabins, barns, sheds, garages and additions. The county also runs a floodplain ordinance. Work in the regulatory floodplain needs written approval from the Planning Department before it starts. Worth sorting that out before anybody sets a pad in the creek bottom.
This part of the Panhandle gets roughly 35 to 40 inches of rain in a year. Winters run through freeze and thaw, which heaves ground and opens ruts. Shale and clay under the topsoil hold water instead of letting it drain.
Patterson Creek can come up hard. Flood warnings for the creek call out water over Route 46 between Champwood and Fort Ashby. Fields down in the bottom go under too. There is a stream gauge near Headsville that the weather service watches for that reason.
Most of the water we deal with never comes from the creek. It runs off the hillsides above the valley and stacks up against a house, a barn or a drive. French drains and drainage trenches, dug with the mini excavator, carry it past the building. Regrading the ground so it falls away from the wall handles the rest.
Communities and areas we serve around Fort Ashby: Short Gap, Fountain, Champwood, Reeses Mill, Headsville, Patterson Creek, Dans Run, Rocket Center, Springfield, Knobley Road, Frankfort Highway, Bluffs on the Potomac.
Fort Ashby ZIP codes served: 26719.
Free estimates throughout Mineral County and the surrounding area.
(540) 327-1400 We grind standing brush, saplings and small trees into mulch with a mulcher head on our tracked loader. The chips stay on the ground and hold the soil in place.
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We cut overgrown fields, pastures and fence rows back down to open ground. A brush cutter on the mini excavator reaches banks, ditch lines and fence rows from level footing.
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We dig stumps out with a mini excavator, root ball and all. The hole gets backfilled and bladed level so the spot can be mowed or built on.
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Mini excavator digging for trenches, ditches, driveway cuts and dirt work. We clear and dig on the same trip across Hampshire County and the Eastern Panhandle.
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We level pads, smooth rutted ground and shape lots after clearing. The finished grade sends water away from your buildings instead of toward them.
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We cut in new gravel driveways and lanes on rural lots, and regrade drives that have rutted or washed out. The surface gets crowned so water runs off the drive instead of down it.
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We install French drains and drainage trenches that move water away from houses, cabins, barns and driveways. The mini excavator digs the line, then pipe and washed stone go in so the ground drains.
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We clear grown up fence rows and property lines on farms and acreage across Hampshire County. The row comes back to a clean line your fence crew can work from.
Learn MoreA few of the questions we hear most around Fort Ashby. If yours is not here, call or text and ask.
Tell us where the property is and what you want the ground to do. Call or text (540) 327-1400, or fill in the form and we will get back to you.
Tell us about the job and the ground. We will get right back to you.