The start of Clearing

Today was marking the driveway centerline, pinning the corners of the house and setting the clearing limits.  We tagged the trees on the perimeter of the clearing limits with blue tape - those trees and anything outside them will stay. We did adjust the driveway slightly to avoid taking down the better specimens of white oaks and red oaks.  The clearing crew started taking down all the smaller trees and by lunchtime they had completed most of that. They cut the trees to about chest-high so the bulldozer can push the remaining stumps over and manipulate them into the appropriate piles.  We have some trees that will be saved for our use, some that will be sold for either lumber or pulping, and then some that will be taken to the local "stump dump" which is only about 1 1/2 miles from the property.  After walking the property with all the trees it looks completely different with the clearing started.  This picture shows the "driveway" - it's not a great picture for perspective but does show the progress.  All that brush lying on the ground is the understory that has been cut or the tops of the trees that have already been felled.  This view is facing west - the house will be about 300' in from this point and will have the front facing north with the back (downhill side) facing due south.