Cedar & Brush Clearing in Austin & the Texas Hill Country Mulched in place.
Clear Ground mulches Ashe juniper (cedar) and brush where it stands across Austin and the Texas Hill Country. Most properties run $2,000–$5,200 per acre, set by stem size and density. Small and mid-size tracts take a few days on site. Most jobs start 1–3 weeks after approval. No hauling, no burning.
What does cedar clearing include? Cut and ground in one pass.
Cedar and brush clearing removes Ashe juniper (cedar) and encroaching brush from Hill Country land in a single machine pass. A forestry mulching head on a compact track loader cuts and grinds every stem into a mulch layer that stays on the ground. No burning. No slash piles. No haul-off.
Ashe juniper is the dominant woody plant across much of the Hill Country. Dense stands shade out native grasses and hold a lot of fuel low to the ground. Clearing it opens pasture, cuts wildfire fuel and often brings back views that have been closed in for years.
Some cedar is worth keeping. Mature Ashe juniper woodland is nesting habitat for the endangered golden-cheeked warbler in parts of Travis, Hays and Burnet counties. Read the warbler section below before you schedule.
Regrowth
Cedar comes back from seed, not stumps
Ashe juniper does not resprout once it is cut below the lowest green limb. New cedar starts from seedlings, so follow-up is light. Mesquite, redberry juniper, huisache and shin oak do resprout, and that is where root extraction earns its cost. Source: Texas A&M AgriLife Extension.
Fire Risk
Dense cedar is ladder fuel
Ashe juniper holds aromatic oils and grows low to the ground. Thick stands carry fire from grass into tree crowns. Thinning and clearing around homes is part of any Texas wildfire plan.
Oak Wilt
Timing matters near live oaks
Texas A&M Forest Service advises avoiding wounding or pruning oaks roughly February through June and painting fresh wounds right away. We schedule oak-adjacent cedar work around that window. Details below.
Cut, stack and burn
Slash piles wait for a burn window or a haul-off
Burn bans and wind close the window without notice
Soil is disturbed and slopes can erode
Several crew visits and staging
VS
Clear Ground mulching
Cut and grind in one pass
No burning, so no burn-ban delays and no smoke
Mulch layer protects the soil from erosion
One mobilization, one invoice
Pricing
Stem size and density set the price, not acreage alone. A 5-acre tract of open cedar scrub with small stems clears faster per acre than a 2-acre thicket of multi-trunk cedar. We agree density with you on a walk of the property, and the quote follows what is standing there.
Price by density
How much does cedar clearing cost per acre?
Cedar and brush mulching, Austin and Central Texas
Service
Unit
Range
What sets it
Light brush and small cedar
Per acre
$2,000–$2,800
Small stems, open canopy
Moderate cedar
Per acre
$2,800–$3,900
Mixed stem sizes, denser canopy
Dense cedar thicket
Per acre
$4,000–$5,200
Large multi-trunk cedar, steep or rocky ground
Fence line and perimeter
Per acre of corridor (length × width)
$1,600–$2,400 mowing, $2,000–$5,200 mulching
Years since last clearing, wire the cedar has grown through
Mesquite and other resprouters, roots pulled
Per acre
$5,000–$8,000
Dense mesquite can run to $12,000 per acre
Prices reviewed: September 2026. Ranges for Austin and Central Texas; your site walk sets the final number. Hauling debris off instead of mulching in place is priced separately. For an estimate, use the land clearing calculator or see all pricing.
Cedar
Cedar & juniper removal
Complete removal of Ashe juniper and other juniper from estate, ranchette and ranch land. One forestry mulching pass cuts, grinds and spreads the material. The ground is left covered in mulch, and native grass has a chance to come back, usually within a growing season if the seed bank is there.
CAT 299D3 XE compact track loader with FAE forestry mulching head Mulched in place Multi-acre scope
$2,000–$5,200 per acre
Light brush to dense cedar.
What moves the price: stem density and diameter first. Slopes slow the machine. Embedded limestone slows it more. Hauling debris off instead of mulching in place adds a haul cost.
Brush
Invasive brush & underbrush control
Removal of huisache, catclaw acacia, Chinese tallow and overgrown native underbrush that crowd pasture, fence lines and estate grounds. Prickly pear colonies take a different approach than woody brush. Low brush moves faster per acre than cedar, so it prices toward the bottom of the range. Species that resprout, such as huisache and mesquite, need follow-up or root extraction.
CAT 299D3 XE with FAE mulching head Selective or full-sweep treatment Fence line, pasture and estate grounds
$2,000–$2,800 per acre
Light brush and underbrush.
What moves the price: thorn species slow the operator. Brush mixed with heavy cedar prices toward the cedar rows in the table above.
Fence line
Fence line & perimeter clearing
Clearing the vegetation along perimeter fencing so the wire is visible, reachable and not being pushed over by cedar. A perimeter cleared two years ago takes far less time than a first pass. It pairs well with a yearly maintenance visit.
Billed by the day Typical buffer 8–12 ft Works with a recurring maintenance plan
$1,600–$2,400 mowing, $2,000–$5,200 mulching
Priced per acre of corridor (length × width).
What moves the price: a fence line untouched for 5+ years is a first-pass job. Barbed wire needs care around the head. Cedar grown through the wire needs hand work first.
What is included
Mulching of the agreed area, cleanup of the equipment path, and a walk-through with you at the end. A before-and-after drone scan is available as an add-on. It measures treated area and is a visual record; it is not a survey. RTK-corrected drone photogrammetry, checked against ground points on site.
Oak wilt
When should cedar clearing avoid oaks?
Oak wilt is a fungus that kills live oaks and red oaks. Sap beetles carry spores to fresh wounds, and they are most active in late winter and spring. Texas A&M Forest Service advises avoiding pruning or wounding oaks from roughly February through June, and painting every oak wound right away, whatever the season.
In practice we keep the machine off oak roots and trunks, do not trim oak limbs during that window, and paint any wound that happens. If your cedar is mixed in with live oaks, tell us on the first call. For tree rules inside Austin, see the Austin protected and heritage tree guide.
Last reviewed: September 2026.
Endangered species
Does golden-cheeked warbler habitat change a cedar job?
It can. The golden-cheeked warbler nests only in Texas, in tall, mature Ashe juniper and oak woodland across the Edwards Plateau, including parts of Travis, Hays and Burnet counties. It uses strips of Ashe juniper bark in its nests. Nesting runs roughly March through July. Sources: U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, Texas Parks & Wildlife.
The species is federally protected. If your tract holds mature cedar-oak woodland, talk to the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service or a qualified biologist before clearing, and plan any work outside the nesting season. Young cedar in open pasture is a different situation from mature closed-canopy woodland. We will ask about it when you call. This is not legal advice.
You bought for the views and the grass, and cedar has been closing both in. A mulching pass opens the ground without burning, without slash piles and without a rental crew.
Ashe juniper grows back from seed, not from the stump. Seedlings are easy to take out when they are small, and cheap next to re-clearing mature cedar. A yearly plan books the visits, locks the price and keeps a record of what was treated. Single visits run $2,000–$3,500 per visit.
Plan
Buffer
$2,000
Per year / coverage set at the site walk
1 maintenance visit per year
Regrowth control and perimeter touch-up
Scheduled ahead of fire season
Plan
Protection
$4,800
Per year / coverage set at the site walk
2 visits per year (spring and fall)
Fence line in scope
Treatment record kept by year
Plan
Estate
$12,000
Per year / coverage set at the site walk
Visit schedule built for your acreage
Full property treatment record
Annual summary delivered
Common Questions
Cedar clearing questions
Not from the stump. Ashe juniper does not resprout once it is cut below the lowest green limb, and mulching takes the whole tree. New cedar comes from seed, so a yearly check catches seedlings while they are small. Mesquite, redberry juniper and huisache do resprout and need root extraction or follow-up.
No. We do not burn, so there are no burn-ban delays and no smoke. Most Texas land-clearing burns fall under TCEQ outdoor-burning rules and county burn bans, which is why mulching in place is simpler.
Most cedar and brush work runs $2,000–$5,200 per acre. Light brush sits at $2,000–$2,800 per acre. Dense cedar sits at $4,000–$5,200 per acre. Stem size and density set the number. See the pricing page.
Small and mid-size tracts usually take a few days on site. Most jobs start 1–3 weeks after approval. Written quote within 48 hours of the site walk.
Texas A&M Forest Service advises avoiding wounding or pruning oaks roughly February through June and painting fresh wounds right away. If cedar is mixed with oaks, we plan around that window.
Yes. We flag the trees you are keeping and route the machine around them. Inside Austin, protected and heritage trees have their own rules. See the Austin tree rules guide.
