Process
Six phases, permits in the sequence
From the walk-through to the hand-off. Mulching in place keeps the soil where it is. Clearing to bare soil starts a clock. You hear which job yours is before the price.
How a job runs
The same order on every slope
- 01
Walk-through
We walk the slope, access, creek, and the trees you want kept. State law requires an erosion and sediment control plan for 1 acre or more of disturbance, filed at least 30 days before work. Inside Asheville city the trigger is 10,000 sq ft. Henderson County starts at 0.5 acre, or any size on mapped steep slopes. Those clocks start when soil moves. Mulching in place leaves the soil where it is. Clearing to bare soil does not. You hear which job yours is before we price it.
- 02
Mark and protect
Flag the keepers, the utilities, and the trout buffer. Designated trout waters get a 25 ft undisturbed strip from top of bank. That rule shows up across Buncombe, Henderson, Madison, Transylvania, and Haywood. Paint costs less than a stop-work order. Keep-trees get ribbon before a saw starts or a drum head spins.
- 03
Fell
The chainsaw crew takes the stems the head should not eat: the big hardwood, the leaners, and anything that can reach a roof, a line, or a road. Keep-trees carry ribbon and the crew fells away from them. Rigging goes on near structures. Logs with sawtimber value stack at the landing before a chipper touches them.
- 04
Mulch
Tracked mulcher on the wooded ground. The Ventrac slope tractor takes the mown slopes, fence lines, and pasture edges where a tracked machine is too wide to fit. Chips stay on the grade as cover. A subsoil pass grinds roots below grade so you spray less next to that 25 ft buffer.
- 05
Grind and haul
The stump grinder takes stumps below grade where the next use needs it. The chipper and the grapple truck move what the head did not process. Burning is a permit path, not the default. Any open burn needs an NC Forest Service permit. Land-clearing debris on more than 5 contiguous acres needs the special permit.
- 06
Hand-off
You get a cleared envelope, a chip layer as ground cover, marked corridors, and a written list of what a grading contractor does next. We clear the ground. A grading contractor cuts the pad. Once they cut to soil, the state 21-day ground cover clock is theirs, and the written list says so.
Rules behind the phases
The erosion rules count disturbed soil. State law wants an erosion and sediment control plan at 1 acre of disturbance, filed 30 days before work. Asheville city triggers at 10,000 square feet. Henderson County triggers at 0.5 acre, or any size on a mapped steep slope. Each of those clocks starts when soil moves.
What a mulch-in-place job usually does not trigger
A tracked mulcher runs on the surface. The stems become chips, the chips stay on the grade, and the root mat holds. On most lots that job disturbs no soil in the sense the rule counts, so the 1-acre state plan, the 10,000 square foot city permit, and the Henderson half-acre permit usually stay off the table. So does the 21-day cover clock, because there is no bare grade to cover. Two rules still apply. The 25-foot trout buffer holds on designated trout waters. A burn pile needs the NC Forest Service permit, and land-clearing debris on more than 5 contiguous acres needs the special permit. Mulch in place and there is no pile.
What a clear-to-bare-soil job does trigger
A lot cut to bare soil for a pad, a drive, or a field is land disturbance. Cross 1 acre and the state plan applies. Cross 10,000 square feet inside Asheville and the city permit applies. Cross 0.5 acre in Henderson and the county permit applies. We do not cut the pad. A grading contractor does. The state 21-day ground cover clock is that contractor's clock, and it starts the day they cut to soil. Your hand-off sheet says so, so the next crew reads the same rule you do.
The permit guide and the erosion guide carry the citations.
Start with a walk-through
Bring the plat if you have one. We mark the buffer and tell you whether mulching in place keeps you under the erosion trigger.