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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Keyser sits where New Creek runs into the North Branch of the Potomac River. The valley floor is flat, and the ground climbs fast on both sides of town. Old pasture and fence rows on those slopes fill in with multiflora rose, autumn olive, briars and locust saplings. A few seasons without brush hogging turns an open field into a wall of thorns.
Marloy Hill Enterprise is a land clearing and excavation company based in Augusta, in Hampshire County. We run north to Keyser and the rest of Mineral County by way of US 50 and US 220. Our mini excavator carries a brush cutter and bucket, and our tracked loader carries a head for forestry mulching. Estimates are free, so call or text (540) 327-1400 and we will come look at the ground.
Tell us about the job and the ground. We will get right back to you.
Most of the ground we clear near Keyser sits in two valleys. New Creek runs south from town and crosses US 50 at the community of New Creek, about six miles out. Patterson Creek drains roughly two thirds of Mineral County and runs past Headsville, Reeses Mill and Burlington. Both valleys hold farms, hay ground and old pasture that has gone unmowed.
Field edges go first. Multiflora rose and autumn olive move in from the fence row, then locust and sapling hardwoods come up behind them. The brush cutter on our mini excavator reaches over a fence and up a bank where a tractor cannot follow. On flatter ground we cut the whole field and leave it mowable again.
Mineral County enforces a Building Safety Ordinance through its planning office. It covers cleanup of refuse, debris and overgrown vegetation on private land the county finds unsafe. If a letter about a grown up lot lands in your mailbox, clearing it is the fix.
Plenty of ground around Keyser is held for hunting or kept as a weekend place. Mineral County sits in the Cumberland metro area, and Maryland is right across the North Branch. Tracts along Knobley Road, around Fountain and near Antioch sit on the east side of Knobly Mountain. Under mature timber, the understory grows in thick.
The mulcher head on the tracked loader grinds standing brush and small trees where they stand. The chips drop and stay as a mulch layer, which holds soil on a shale slope. That is how we open trails and shooting lanes, with the ground covered when we leave.
When a cabin or shed pad comes next, the stumps have to go. We dig them out with the mini excavator, roots and all, then backfill and level the hole. Stump removal before grading keeps a pad from settling later. The same machine shapes the pad once the stumps are out.
Keyser averages about 41 inches of rain and 33 inches of snow a year. Freeze and thaw works on a hillside lane all winter. A steep gravel drive off Knobley Road loses its crown after a hard season. Runoff then cuts a channel straight down the middle of it.
We cut in new lanes and rebuild washed out ones. The excavator digs the bed and shapes the stone into a crown across the width. Water sheds to the sides instead of running the length of the drive. A gravel driveway built that way holds its shape much longer.
Water off the hill is the other half of the job. Shallow shale soil sheds water fast, so a heavy rain sends it downhill toward the house or barn. A french drain or a trench and pipe carries that water past the building and out to daylight. We trench with the mini excavator as part of the same job as the clearing.
Mineral County does not have general zoning. It does have a planning office that issues building permits and enforces a subdivision ordinance and a floodplain ordinance. Building permits cover residential, agricultural, recreation and commercial construction. New homes also need septic approval from the Mineral County Health Department.
New Creek forms most of the eastern edge of town, and the North Branch runs along the north. Both leave low ground that falls inside the mapped floodplain. Work in that zone needs written authorization from the county planning office before it starts.
Jennings Randolph Lake sits upstream, five miles north of Elk Garden. Its dam holds back flood water on the North Branch above Keyser. Low ground along the creek still gets wet in a hard spring. We work to what the county approves, and the permit stays in the owner's name.
Communities and areas we serve around Keyser: New Creek, Fountain, Knobley Road, Antioch, Headsville, Patterson Creek, Reeses Mill, Short Gap, Carpendale, Ridgeley, Wiley Ford, Elk Garden.
Keyser ZIP codes served: 26726, 26743, 26753, 26710.
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 clear wooded and grown-up building lots for a house, a cabin, a mobile home or a shop. Brush gets mulched where it stands, and stumps come out where the house and the drive go.
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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 job 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 regrade private gravel roads that have washed out or worn into ruts and potholes. The crown goes back in and the ditch lines get cleaned out so water leaves the road.
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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.
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We bring our tracked skid steer to grade yards and lanes, spread gravel and topsoil, and fill washouts. A forestry mulcher head on the same loader grinds brush and saplings where they stand.
Learn MoreA few of the questions we hear most around Keyser. 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.