Land Clearing & Reclamation
Brush, trees, and years of overgrowth cleared and reclaimed — turning unusable acreage back into open, accessible ground that is worth more.
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Land clearing in Crossett usually means pine ground, since the town grew up around a sawmill. A lumber company incorporated in 1899 built Crossett as its company town, about fifteen miles west of Hamburg. Western Ashley County was upland forest, and the ground was judged unfit for farming. Timber became the living instead, and Crossett still bills itself as the Forestry Capital of the South. The Crossett Experimental Forest, 1,680 acres south of town, has studied naturally regrown loblolly and shortleaf pine since 1934. Past the pine, the county runs from the Ouachita River bottoms in the west to Delta farmland in the east.
We work Crossett, Hamburg and the rest of Ashley County from our base in Rayville, Louisiana. We handle land clearing and forestry mulching on cutover pine tracts, pasture and hunting land. Mike Martien, our FAA Part 107 drone pilot, is a nationally recognized land specialist with America's Land Partners. That lets us map a tract from the air before any machine work starts. Our compact track loader runs a forestry mulching head, and our tractor pulls a disc harrow and rotary cutter. Every job starts with a free on-site estimate, where we look at the ground and your plans for it.
When settlers cleared Ashley County hardwood for crops, pine took over the ground. Crossett later helped shape sustained yield forestry, which treats a forest as a crop to cut and regrow. If your tract was cut over, it grows up in brush and young pine fast. Forestry mulching grinds that growth where it stands and leaves the chips on the ground as cover.
Mulching suits lanes, trails, fence rows and the brush under pines you want to keep. It also leaves no brush pile to burn, which matters when a burn ban is on. Open fields that only need mowing get the tractor and rotary cutter, our bush hogging setup. Heavy timber or a full grub can call for a dozer or excavator crew, and we say so first.
Ashley County spans two kinds of country, the Mississippi Alluvial Plain and the West Gulf Coastal Plain. Crossett sits on the upland side, and the escarpment between them runs along the west edge of Overflow refuge. Out near Montrose, soil scientists named the Portland series, a clay that drains very slowly. Its water table sits within a foot of the surface from December through May.
For house pads and gravel driveways, a local supplier delivers the fill dirt or rock. We spread it, shape it and track-pack it with the compact track loader. A builder's engineer sets and tests compaction for a house, and some pads call for a roller crew. On wet ground a drive needs a crown and an outlet, so culvert and ditch work comes first.
Felsenthal National Wildlife Refuge lies about eight miles west of town and covers 76,000 acres. The Ouachita and Saline rivers and the Felsenthal Pool dominate its water, and it holds gun and muzzleloader deer hunts. It dates to 1975, set aside to offset the Corps' Ouachita and Black Rivers navigation project. Overflow refuge in Ashley County, set aside in 1980, is mostly willow and overcup oak bottomland.
Willow oak acorns there feed the mallards and wood ducks that winter on the refuge. On private tracts we cut shooting lanes and habitat edges and prep food plots with the disc harrow. A drone mapping flight comes first, so each lane and plot fits the cover and the water. In the bottoms we time the work for dry spells, since parts of Felsenthal flood at times.
State law requires a call to Arkansas 811 before any digging, culvert work included. Member utilities then mark their lines within two full working days of the ticket. Once lines are marked, you have ten working days from the day of the call to start digging. We check that the ticket is in before any digging starts.
Building work that disturbs an acre or more usually falls under the Arkansas DEQ construction stormwater permit. Sites of at least one acre but under five get automatic coverage, with the notice and plan posted on site. Five acres or more counts as a large site under the same permit.
Fill in a wetland or stream can need a Section 404 permit from the Corps of Engineers. Some farming and forestry work is exempt, so we check which rules apply before starting.
Communities & areas we serve around Crossett: North Crossett, South Crossett, West Crossett, Fountain Hill, Hamburg, Montrose, Portland, Parkdale, Wilmot.
Crossett ZIP codes served: 71635, 71646.
Free, no-obligation estimates throughout Ashley County and across South Arkansas.
(318) 235-7597 Brush, trees, and years of overgrowth cleared and reclaimed — turning unusable acreage back into open, accessible ground that is worth more.
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Building pads, grading, leveling, and drainage shaping — stable, well-drained ground ready for construction, agriculture, or recreation.
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Access roads, gravel driveways, interior trails, and culvert crossings — all-weather access that makes your land usable and more valuable.
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Food plots, shooting lanes, trail systems, and habitat improvements designed to hold deer and grow healthier game — by a landowner who hunts his own work.
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FAA-certified aerial imagery, property mapping, and drone-based deer herd assessments — a clearer view of your land for planning, marketing, and management.
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What makes Big Cypress different: every project is guided by a nationally recognized land specialist with America’s Land Partners — so your improvements are planned around usability, enjoyment, and long-term value.
Meet MikeReal words from clients who’ve trusted Mike with their land as a land specialist with America’s Land Partners — the same care and work ethic he brings to every Big Cypress project.
“Mike Martien secured my real estate sale through very difficult circumstances. He went above and beyond what would be expected of any agent. Anyone would be in the best of hands letting Mike work for you and with you.”
“We’ve known Mike for over 30 years. His work ethic and knowledge are exceptional. He’s passionate about helping others, trustworthy, and puts his client’s needs first. We highly recommend him to anyone working with land.”
“Mike has lifelong experience dealing with land management and development. His experience shows in researching current trends and values. For the most appropriate valuations and ease of sales, he can’t be beat.”
“With an excessive amount of hurdles and more problems than anyone could imagine, he never slowed down or got discouraged. If anyone needs someone that is all about your best interest, this is the one to call.”
“He’s beyond knowledgeable about whatever it takes to get a land deal worked out — even the tax side. He did a whole lot of legwork to get it done. Thanks again Mike, appreciate it more than you know.”
“His commitment to his customer and to the detail of the task at hand is unrivalled. I suggest for anyone selling or buying any land to use him. You won’t be disappointed.”
A few of the questions we hear most around Crossett. Don’t see yours? Call us — we’re happy to help.
Ready to improve, enjoy, or get more value out of your land in Northeast Louisiana? Reach out for a free, no-obligation consultation — and put a fellow landowner’s experience to work on your property. Buying or selling? Mike wears that hat too, as a land specialist with America’s Land Partners.