How to Clear Brush From Woods
Without Losing the Good Trees

1. Walk it first and mark what stays

Every good result starts here, and most bad ones skip it. Walk the woods with a roll of bright flagging tape and tie a band on every tree you want to keep: the mature oaks, maples, hickories, beech and black cherry, the young ones of the same kinds that will replace them, and any tree you simply like. Mark native shrubs worth keeping too.

Then look at what is left. Anything not marked is a candidate to come out. It is much easier to make good decisions standing still with tape in your hand than with a saw running.

2. Pick the season: late October through March

With the leaves down you can see the structure of the woods — which trees are worth keeping, where the ground falls away, how far the brush has spread. The ground is firm or frozen, so it does not compact or rut under your feet and wheels, and nothing is nesting. Much of the invasive brush in Northeast Ohio holds its leaves into late autumn after the native trees have dropped theirs, which makes it easy to spot.

Avoid saturated spring ground. Working on wet clay under a tree compacts the soil its roots breathe through, and that damage shows up years later.

3. Get the safety basics right

Heavy gloves, long sleeves, eye protection and hearing protection for anything with an engine. If you use a chainsaw, add leg protection and a helmet, keep both hands on it, and never run one alone in the woods — tell someone where you are and when you will be back.

Learn to recognise poison ivy without its leaves: hairy, rope-like vines climbing the trunks. The oil is on the bare stems all winter, so treat every vine as live, wash tools and gloves afterwards, and never burn it — the oil travels in the smoke.

Look up before you cut. Dead limbs and hung-up branches held in the canopy by vines can come down when the vine is cut.

4. Match the tool to the stem

Loppers and a pruning saw handle most stems up to the thickness of a thumb or two, and they are the safest place to start. A brush cutter with a blade takes dense, thin growth faster. Anything thicker than your wrist is chainsaw work, and so is anything you cannot cut comfortably at ground level with hand tools.

Thorny canes are easier if you cut them at the base and pull them out backwards with a rake or a gloved hand, rather than wading in.

5. Work from the edge inward, and cut low

Start where the woods meets the lawn or the trail and open a lane, then widen it. You always have somewhere clear to stand and somewhere to put what you cut.

Cut as close to the ground as you safely can. A field of sharp stubs at ankle height is a trip hazard, punctures tires and is harder to keep down next year.

6. Cut vines twice, then leave them

For vines climbing your keeper trees, cut each one near the ground and again at about waist height, and remove the short piece between. Leave the upper part where it is; it dies and falls away over a season or two. Pulling it down drags deadwood and bark with it.

7. Deal with the cut brush without hurting the trees

Chip it and spread the chips thinly, or stack it in a loose pile well away from any tree you are keeping, at the back of the woods where it becomes cover for birds and small animals. Never heap brush or chips against a trunk or across a root zone.

Burning is regulated in Ohio and usually needs permission outside towns; the open-burning rules are summarised in our guide to clearing overgrown land. In woods you are keeping, a fire is close to roots and lower limbs anyway.

8. Protect the root zones

Most of a tree's roots are in the top layer of soil and spread well past the branch tips. Do not drive across them when the ground is soft, do not dig or grade inside them, do not pile soil or brush on them, and do not cut roots to make a path. A tree damaged this way can look fine for several years before it declines — which is why it is the mistake people do not connect to the cause.