Cedar thickets. Dead brush. Ladder fuels stacked against your structure. The Hill Country’s wildfire risk isn’t theoretical — it’s measurable, and so is the clearing work we do about it.
ClearGround removes fire fuel, creates defensible space, and delivers an RTK-verified 3D digital twin documenting every foot of clearance — so your insurance company, your fire marshal, and your family all see the same proof.
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DON'T JUST CLEAR THE BRUSH. PROVE IT'S GONE.
FIRE RISK ASSESSMENT
PHASE 01 — MAP THE FUEL BEFORE YOU CLEAR IT
Before a single branch is cut, our Mavic 3 Enterprise RTK drone maps your property's vegetation density, canopy coverage, and proximity to structures at centimeter-level accuracy. Dead cedar, brush accumulation, and ladder fuel zones are identified in 3D — giving you and your clearing crew a precision plan, not a best guess.
± 0.5CM ACCURACY · VEGETATION DENSITY MAP · STRUCTURE PROXIMITY ANALYSIS · CANOPY COVERAGE MODEL
[Phase 01] RTK Survey Orthomosaic
vegetation density analysis
Hill Country property
FUEL REDUCTION
PHASE 02 — REMOVE THE RISK, PROTECT THE TREES
Dense cedar thickets get mulched. Dead brush and ladder fuels get removed. Desirable live oaks and native hardwoods stay. This isn't a slash-and-burn operation — it's selective clearing driven by the pre-scan data, executed with equipment matched to your terrain.
CAT 299D3 XE + FAE MULCHER · SELECTIVE CLEARING · CEDAR / BRUSH / LADDER FUEL REMOVAL · ON-SITE MULCHING
[Phase 02] Selective cedar clearing
preserving mature live oaks
Hill Country terrain
MID-PROJECT VERIFICATION
PHASE 03 — EVERY FRIDAY. DATA DOESN'T LIE.
Multi-day clearing projects get weekly RTK scans. Cleared acreage is confirmed. Defensible space zones are verified against Firewise standards. You see exactly what's been removed, what's left, and whether the buffer zone meets spec — before the crew comes back Monday.
WEEKLY RTK SCANS · CLEARED AREA CONFIRMATION · DEFENSIBLE SPACE ZONE TRACKING · FIREWISE COMPLIANCE CHECK
[Phase 03] Progress comparison
before vs. mid-project density
30/60/100ft zones highlighted
FINAL VERIFICATION
PHASE 04 — THE SCAN THAT CLOSES THE JOB
Post-clearing RTK scan confirms every foot of defensible space. The 3D model shows your property before and after — vegetation removed, buffer zones measured, Firewise zones documented. This isn't a photo album. It's a georeferenced, measurement-grade digital twin your insurer and fire marshal can both use.
POST-CLEAR RTK SCAN · ZONE 1/2/3 MEASUREMENT · BEFORE/AFTER 3D COMPARISON · GEOREFERENCED COMPLIANCE MODEL
[Phase 04] Before/after 3D comparison
cleared defensible space
buffer zone measurements overlaid
DELIVERABLE
PHASE 05 — YOUR PROPERTY'S FIRE DEFENSE RECORD
Every fire mitigation project delivers a shareable 3D digital twin on DroneDeploy — accessible by you, your insurance agent, your fire marshal, or your HOA. The model is measurement-grade, timestamped, and archived. When your insurer asks if you've created defensible space, you don't send photos. You send a link.
3D DIGITAL TWIN ON DRONEDEPLOY · SHAREABLE LINK · MEASUREMENT-GRADE · TIMESTAMPED ARCHIVE · INSURANCE-READY
[Phase 05] DroneDeploy 3D model
completed fire mitigation project
measurement tools + buffer zones
Most Austin-area land clearing companies will mulch your cedar and leave. They’ll call it “wildfire prevention” on the invoice, but they can’t prove what was removed, they don’t measure your defensible space zones, and they don’t give your insurer anything to work with.
ClearGround treats fire mitigation as a precision service, not a side effect of brush clearing. We map the fire fuel load before we cut. We clear to Firewise defensible space standards. And we deliver a 3D digital twin that documents every foot of clearance — the kind of proof that lowers your risk profile with both your insurance company and your fire department.
Ashe juniper (cedar) is the Hill Country’s primary fire accelerant — dense, volatile, and aggressively spreading. ClearGround removes cedar thickets, dead brush, and accumulated understory fuel using forestry mulchers that process vegetation on-site. The mulch layer stays as erosion control and soil amendment. What leaves is fire fuel. What stays is ground cover.
What drives the price up: Vegetation density is the primary variable. Scattered cedar with open understory clears at the low end. A dense, closed-canopy cedar brake with trees over 8 inches in diameter takes significantly more machine time per acre. Terrain matters: flat pastureland clears faster than a steep hillside with exposed limestone.
[Before/After] Dense cedar thicket
before clearing vs. after selective
fuel reduction. Hill Country terrain.
Firewise defensible space isn’t just “clear around the house.” It’s a structured, zoned approach — 0–5 feet of non-combustible area, 5–30 feet of lean fuel zone, 30–100 feet of reduced fuel zone. ClearGround builds all three zones to spec. Ladder fuels are removed. Canopy separation is established. The result is documented in 3D and measured against Firewise standards.
What drives the price up: Property size and structure count are the main variables. A single home on a half-acre lot with moderate brush is a 1–2 day project at the low end. A Hill Country estate with multiple structures, dense cedar within 30 feet of the home, and steep terrain can push into a week of work.
[Defensible Space] Completed zones
around Hill Country home. Clear Zone 1,
thinned Zone 2, reduced Zone 3.
A fire break is a cleared strip that stops ground fire. A fuel break is a wider, thinned corridor that slows crown fire and gives suppression crews a working edge. ClearGround builds both — mulching vegetation to ground level on the break line, thinning the corridor to reduce canopy continuity, and creating access lanes for fire response vehicles. Your property line doesn’t stop fire. A fuel break does.
What drives the price up: Break width is the primary driver — a 20-foot fire break through moderate brush is at the low end, while a 100-foot fuel break through dense cedar on a slope is at the upper range. Terrain difficulty adds time: steep grades require more cautious machine operation and sometimes hand-clearing on the edges.
[Fire Break] Aerial view of completed
fuel break corridor through Hill Country
vegetation. Cleared strip visible.
Cedar grows back. Brush re-accumulates. A defensible space cleared this year becomes a fire hazard again within 18–24 months without maintenance. ClearGround offers annual vegetation management plans that re-clear buffer zones, re-scan the property, and update your digital twin — maintaining your fire-safe perimeter year over year without starting from scratch.
What drives the price up: The initial clearing scope is the biggest variable — a property that was thoroughly cleared in year one needs light maintenance, keeping costs near the low end. A property that skipped a year and let cedar regrowth establish runs closer to the upper range.
[Annual Maintenance] Side-by-side:
maintained defensible space vs.
unmaintained after 18 months.
Every wildfire prevention project includes pre-clearing RTK drone survey, defensible space zone mapping, real-time progress documentation, and a post-clearing 3D digital twin delivered within 48 hours of completion. You’re not buying brush clearing hours. You’re buying documented, verified defensible space with 3D proof.
[M2 — Video Content]
Aerial drone footage: before/after wildfire
prevention clearing on a Hill Country property.
The Hill Country has no shortage of companies that will run a mulcher through your cedar. But when your insurance company asks for documentation of defensible space, or your HOA requires proof of Firewise compliance, a text message from the clearing crew doesn’t cut it.
ClearGround’s RTK drone survey creates a measurement-grade 3D model of your property before and after clearing. Defensible space zones are mapped, measured, and archived. Your insurance agent gets a link to a georeferenced model — not a folder of iPhone photos.
Vegetation density mapped in 3D. Cedar thickets, ladder fuels, and structure proximity identified before a single branch is cut.
Zone 1/2/3 measured to Firewise spec. Every foot of clearance documented and verified in the post-clearing model.
Shareable 3D model on DroneDeploy. Timestamped, georeferenced, measurement-grade. Send the link to your agent.
Your file stays current. Annual re-scans update the model so your defensible space documentation never goes stale.
Your home sits in one of the most beautiful — and fire-prone — landscapes in Texas. Dense cedar within 30 feet of your structure isn’t a landscaping problem. It’s a fire risk that affects your insurance premiums, your property value, and your family’s safety.
A 20-acre ranch with unchecked cedar regrowth isn’t just losing water to invasive trees — it’s accumulating fire fuel across every acre. ClearGround clears cedar and brush at scale, creates defensible space around structures, and builds fire breaks along property lines.
Community-wide fire mitigation requires coordination, documentation, and proof of compliance. ClearGround works with HOAs to assess community fire risk, clear common areas, create fuel breaks between structures, and deliver community-wide 3D documentation.
Your insurer flagged your property. Your premium spiked. Your renewal is conditional on defensible space creation. ClearGround delivers the clearing work and the documentation your insurance company needs.
Wildfire prevention is a data-driven process — from fire risk assessment to documented defensible space, every phase is scanned, verified, and archived.
RTK drone maps
vegetation + fuel load
Zones defined
priority areas flagged
Cedar + brush removed
defensible space built
3D verification
zones measured
Shareable model
insurance-ready proof
High-flow compact track loader with FAE mulching attachment. Processes cedar, brush, and dead vegetation into ground-level mulch on-site. Handles dense fuel loads and steep Hill Country terrain.
Compact-radius mini excavator for root grubbing, fire break construction, and terrain work. Zero tail swing prevents structure damage when working close to buildings.
Survey-grade drone with Real-Time Kinematic positioning. Maps vegetation density, canopy coverage, and structure proximity at centimeter-level accuracy for fire risk assessment.
Multi-band GNSS receiver providing real-time corrections to the Mavic 3 Enterprise RTK. Delivers survey-grade accuracy without reliance on cellular RTK networks in remote Hill Country locations.
Every project starts with an RTK drone scan of your site. We fly it, build your 3D model, and deliver a fixed-price proposal — all before you commit to anything.