Wooded lot after forestry mulching, understory cleared to a mulch floor with mature trees left standing

Service area · Upper Cumberland, TN

Excavating & land clearing in Cookeville, Crossville and the Upper Cumberland

I-40 runs east from Lebanon up onto the Highland Rim at Cookeville and the Cumberland Plateau at Crossville.

Call or text (615) 998-9869 Request a quote

Getting there

I-40 east

Cookeville and Crossville are both on I-40, east of Wilson County.

5 out of 5 stars.

“Outstanding customer service and work! Had brush piles and trees that fell all cleaned up same day. Highly recommend and will be in touch for future projects.”

Gabriel Anthony · Google review

Upper Cumberland

Higher ground, different rock.

East of Wilson County the land steps up.

The rise from the Nashville Basin onto the Eastern Highland Rim is about 500 feet, and the Cumberland Plateau rises roughly another 1,000 feet above the Rim.

Cookeville sits on the eastern Highland Rim at about 1,140 feet.

Crossville is near the center of Cumberland County, on the plateau, where the county averages about 2,000 feet.

Closer in, we cover Carthage, Hartsville and Lafayette, and Smith, Trousdale, Macon, DeKalb and Cannon counties.

Orange Kubota tracked loader fitted with a red forestry mulching head, parked on grass

The ground

Chert on the Rim, sandstone on top.

Around Cookeville: most of Putnam County lies on the Highland Rim.

The EPA and USGS describe the Eastern Highland Rim as Mississippian limestone, chert, shale and dolomite, with sinkholes and depressions in places.

Highland Rim soils like Dickson carry a dense fragipan that drains slowly.

Around Crossville: the plateau is capped with hard Pennsylvanian sandstone. The building stone sold as Crab Orchard stone comes from it, and the USGS calls the unit the Crossville Sandstone.

Plateau soils are mostly well drained, acid and low in fertility. The USDA describes Ramsey soils as 7 to 20 inches over sandstone with outcrops common, and Hartsells as 20 to 40 inches to sandstone.

What that means for your job

Sandstone ledges. On the plateau, rock can sit a few inches down. We size the dig and the method to the site before we start.

Woods first. Much of the plateau is forest, so many projects start with clearing. Forestry mulching opens a homesite or trail and leaves good trees standing.

Cover bare slopes. Graded ground needs erosion control until it grows back in.

Sources: Tennessee Encyclopedia, Geologic Zones; Tennessee Encyclopedia, Putnam County; Tennessee Encyclopedia, Cumberland County; Tennessee Tech, About Cookeville; EPA and USGS, Ecoregions of Tennessee; USGS Geolex, Crossville Sandstone; USDA NRCS, Ramsey soil series; USDA NRCS, Hartsells soil series; USDA NRCS, Dickson soil series.