Lot and brush clearing around Cookeville

Outside the city's tight lots, a lot of tree work around Cookeville means clearing: an old fence row grown up in cedar and briars, a half-acre gone back to saplings, or a strip opened for a shed, a garden or a driveway. The work is less about single big trees and more about volume.

Ways to clear

• Hand crew and chipper. Saws and a chipper for brush and small trees, good where machines can't go.
• Mulching. A forestry mulcher grinds standing brush and small trees in place and leaves a mulch layer.
• Felling and hauling. Larger trees cut, bucked and hauled off or left as firewood.

What happens to the brush

Cookeville collects brush and limbs free for residents who do their own trimming and cutting, but not debris cut by private contractors, and commercial businesses pay $60 an hour for brush and special pickups. City and county residents can drop brush and limbs at the collection center at 2103 W Jackson Street on weekdays, 8:00 a.m. to 2:45 p.m. Leaf collection runs from November through March 15.

Burning is the other option. From October 15 through May 15, the Tennessee Division of Forestry requires a burn permit for leaf piles and woody debris; permits are available online seven days a week or by calling 877-350-2876 on weekdays. Some counties and cities have stricter rules, so check locally first.

Pines on the lot

If the trees being cleared include dying pines, the Division of Forestry lists cut and remove, cut and leave, cut and hand spray, and pile and burn among the ways to handle an active southern pine beetle spot, and it points to a Southern Pine Beetle Cost Share Program. See the pest guide.

Licensing and digging

Tennessee requires a licensed contractor whenever the total cost of a project is $25,000 or more, and lists landscaping among contracting work. If clearing includes grubbing out stumps, call Tennessee 811 at least three full business days ahead.

Price

Angi says jobs with many trees are often priced per acre, from $500 to $6,000. Angi also lists chipping at an average of $95 and hauling at about $70. See the cost page.