Can I clear the whole lot to build on St. Simons?

No, not usually all of it. Glynn County has a tree ordinance that protects mature live oaks and other specimen trees. Mostly this is all the trees on St. Simons. At a building site we are selective about what we clear. We remove understory, palmetto, little pines and volunteer hardwoods but leave the protected live oaks in place. We plan the clearing around this from our initial visit.

Who issues the permit?

Since St. Simons is unincorporated, if you need a land disturbance permit, you have to get it from the Glynn County Community Development. And tree removal of a protected tree requires its own permission. We tell you what's required on the lot before we give a price.

What if a protected oak is exactly where the house goes?

So now you're talking county and your designer, not a chainsaw. It's generally easier and less expensive to move the footprint a few feet, rather than getting permission to cut down a specimen oak. And a better lot for the effort.

My lot backs up to the marsh. How close can you clear?

Georgia has some coastal marsh regulations that have a "no ground disturbance" buffer from the edge of the marsh. All the lots along Dunbar Creek, Village Creek and the Frederica River have these buffers. We don't work in there. But there is a different issue of cutting and minimal hand clearing in the buffer. We'll refer you to the proper office so we don't make a guess.

Can you burn the debris on the island?

No. St. Simons on a residential lot open burning is impractical and not desired. It is a bad idea with county and Forestry Commission rules. We can mulch in place under story where you want to have ground cover. We can also take it off island.

Will the machine damage the roots of the trees we keep?

A forestry mulcher can chop through palmettos and understory without being so hard on roots as a root balling excavator. In areas around our keeper oaks we'll mulch instead of grubbing, close cut by hand at the base, and try to stay off the root area with the machine tracks as best we can in the lot.

Land clearing on St. Simons Island: selective clearing that keeps the oaks and stays out of the marsh

Nobody clears a St. Simons lot to bare dirt. The job is to take out what is in the way and leave what makes the island worth living on.

You have a wooded lot on St. Simons Island. You've got saw palmetto, yaupon, wax myrtle, volunteer pines and vines tangled up under your live oak canopy. The house site, driveway, and yard are hiding somewhere. You don't just hack your way through. We have tree protection ordinance from Glynn County to deal with mature oaks. You've got a marsh buffer to limit activities along the water. Big trees make a much better finished lot than no big trees. At Golden Isles Fencing & Excavation, we selectively clear St. Simons lots. Take out the understory & little trees. Leave the specimen oaks. No messing with the marsh.

We're family owned and Christian-based in Brunswick. We grade. We fence. So we are clearing your island lot with the thought of what's going to come next.

Protected trees come first

On most of the island it's all live oaks. There are protected mature specimens here in Glynn County. A special permit is needed to remove, which is a long, slow and sometimes denied process. We do our best to consider the oaks as stationary objects and design everything else to accommodate them. We go through your lot with you when estimating and tag trees you want to keep. We also mark where the machine will be able to operate. Say you had a house designed and the footprint overlaps with a protected oak in the exact location. Usually what we have to do is move the footprint a couple feet. It is cheaper and quicker than the process for removal approval. You also gain the benefit of a shady yard. It's the volunteer pines, sweetgum, Chinese tallow, understory that's really getting removed.

Excavator lifting cut limbs and a felled tree trunk out of an overgrown lot — Storm timber and brush coming out of a lot by machine rather than by hand.

Working under the canopy without hurting the roots

The mature live oaks have shallow, wide ranging root systems that extend much further out than the edge of their crown. That's the area where the clearing machines operate. A forestry mulcher that's eating palmetto and understory is a lot less destructive to the roots than an excavator pulling stumps. We mulch instead of grubbing (near the keeper trees) and hand cut near the trunk. We try to stay off the root zone with the machine's tracks (as far as the lot will let us). When we need to dig out a little stump near an oak, we do it by hand. We don't drag with a bucket & tear out a structural root.

The marsh buffer

The lots around Dunbar Creek and Village Creek and Frederica River and the back lot by the south end all have the Georgia coastal marsh buffer. That is the restricted area along the edge of the marsh where there is restricted ground disturbing activities. We don't clear into it. Cutting or light hand clearing into the buffer is something else and needs to be addressed thru the state coastal office. We will guide you to them rather than trying to figure it for you. The buffer really just becomes the natural boundary of your yard. The marsh view takes care of itself.

Permits on an unincorporated island

St. Simons isn't a city, so you need a land disturbance permit (which includes the silt fence and erosion control on a loose sand barrier island) from Glynn County Community Development. You also need a permit to cut down a protected tree if you are going to. A small lot brush job may or may not require the first. A building site clear will almost always require the first. We will tell you which before quoting.

Sand, stumps and what the ground does next

The soil on the island is clean sand with a high water table in the low spots. Pulling stumps from the island will result in holes that you need to back fill and compact, otherwise the driveway and fence line will be sinking where the trees are. Once you get rid of the understory you'll notice the low areas. They will fill up quickly with water in a summer storm on the island. Most of our clearing jobs on St. Simons are finished with a rough grade that directs the water toward a swale or the street. This is for the builder or fence crew to start on a draining pad.

Mini excavator chained down on a dump trailer on a sand track through pine woods — Machine and dump trailer travel together, so clearing and haul-off happen in one visit.

Debris

You're not going to be doing much practical or welcome open burning on your residential lot on St. Simons. We'll mulch the understory in-place where you want ground cover under the oaks. That's what the forest floor wants anyway. We'll haul away everything else from the island. We try to minimize the number of haul trips across the causeway. That's what you want.

How an island clearing job runs

Walk the lot. Property pins, keeper trees marked, marsh buffer marked, exact layout of where the machine is working, etc.
Permits. Any land disturbance permit and tree approvals (if any) turned in to the county.
Utilities located. No bucket in the ground yet.
Selective clearing. Mulch in the understory with hand work around the oaks. Remove stumps from the building site only.
Backfill and rough grade. Holes compacted. Run water off away from site.
Debris out. On site mulch or haul off island and site cleaned up.

We do free estimates on St. Simons. If there's a fence or graded pad going in at the site we'll evaluate at the same time.

Land clearing elsewhere in the Golden Isles

Mainland lots are a different job. Read about land clearing in Brunswick, GA, land clearing on Jekyll Island, and everything we do as a fence and excavation company on St. Simons Island.

What usually follows clearing on St. Simons

Once the site is open, owners typically need our land grading on St. Simons Island, wood fencing on St. Simons Island, excavation and site prep, and land clearing service overview.

Mini excavator loaded on a dump trailer at a job site

Questions and answers

Common questions about land clearing on St. Simons Island

Island clearing is selective clearing. Here is what owners ask us.

No, not usually all of it. Glynn County has a tree ordinance that protects mature live oaks and other specimen trees. Mostly this is all the trees on St. Simons. At a building site we are selective about what we clear. We remove understory, palmetto, little pines and volunteer hardwoods but leave the protected live oaks in place. We plan the clearing around this from our initial visit.
Since St. Simons is unincorporated, if you need a land disturbance permit, you have to get it from the Glynn County Community Development. And tree removal of a protected tree requires its own permission. We tell you what's required on the lot before we give a price.
So now you're talking county and your designer, not a chainsaw. It's generally easier and less expensive to move the footprint a few feet, rather than getting permission to cut down a specimen oak. And a better lot for the effort.

Georgia has some coastal marsh regulations that have a "no ground disturbance" buffer from the edge of the marsh. All the lots along Dunbar Creek, Village Creek and the Frederica River have these buffers. We don't work in there. But there is a different issue of cutting and minimal hand clearing in the buffer. We'll refer you to the proper office so we don't make a guess.
No. St. Simons on a residential lot open burning is impractical and not desired. It is a bad idea with county and Forestry Commission rules. We can mulch in place under story where you want to have ground cover. We can also take it off island.
A forestry mulcher can chop through palmettos and understory without being so hard on roots as a root balling excavator. In areas around our keeper oaks we'll mulch instead of grubbing, close cut by hand at the base, and try to stay off the root area with the machine tracks as best we can in the lot.