Forestry Mulching
A forestry mulching head on our skid loader grinds brush and small trees where they stand. The mulch stays on the ground and covers the soil.
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Land clearing in Ottawa covers two kinds of ground. Outside city limits, Franklin County requires at least 3 acres to build a new home. A tract that size can come with cedars in the pasture and timber along a creek. Inside town, an older lot can have a back fence row lost in volunteer trees.
Nickell's Land Management is based in Parker, Kansas, and Ottawa is part of our service area. We clear land with a skid loader and an excavator. Around Ottawa, that means lot clearing before a build and forestry mulching on overgrown pasture. Call or text (620) 252-9314, and we will look at the job and put the quote in writing.
Tell us what the land needs and where it is. We look at the job and put the quote in writing.
Ottawa is the Franklin County seat, home to 12,625 people in the 2020 Census. The city says it sits about 30 miles southwest of the Kansas City area on I-35. US-59 and K-68 run through town as well.
Much of the housing is older. Census estimates show about one home in four was built before 1940, and the median year built is 1967. Forest Park, on the northwest corner of town, is known for its mature oak and walnut trees. Older lots across town can carry big shade trees and fence rows that have grown in.
New homes keep going up. The Census Bureau's permit survey shows 55 new single-family homes permitted in Ottawa in 2025, up from 40 in 2024. That year the city also approved the final plat for South Haven Estates, 23 single-family lots in southwest Ottawa. For a new house, site preparation levels the pad area and cuts in the access for the builder.
Inside city limits, Ottawa's code counts clearing and grading as land disturbance. That work falls under the city's Land Disturbance Permit, set out in Chapter 14 of the municipal code. The city's worksheet exempts a home project under one acre that is not part of a larger development. Farm use is exempt too.
Exempt jobs still have to control erosion under city standards. New development on an acre or more also needs a stormwater plan. The Kansas Department of Health and Environment has its own rules for construction that disturbs an acre or more. City staff answer these questions, and we point you to them before work starts.
Outside city limits, Franklin County Planning and Building handles zoning and building permits. A new entrance off a county road needs approval from the county's Public Works Department first. Anywhere in Kansas, state law requires notice through Kansas 811 at least two full working days before digging starts. Utilities mark only their own lines, so tell us where a private line runs to a barn or a well.
The Marais des Cygnes River runs through the north side of Ottawa and supplies the city's water. Levees line both banks in town, with three pumping stations for high water. The National Weather Service lists a record crest near 43 feet at the Ottawa gauge, in July 1951. In July 2007, the river reached 41 feet there.
Most of Ottawa sits on Kenoma and Woodson silt loams, according to the federal soil survey. Both have a clay subsoil that water moves through very slowly. In normal years, Woodson soils carry a seasonal water table 6 to 24 inches down from November to June. The river bottoms hold Verdigris and Osage soils, mapped as occasionally flooded.
Federal climate normals put Ottawa's rain at about 40 inches a year, and May and June are the wettest months. Wet clay ground turns soft under heavy machines, so the season and the spot matter on these jobs. On permitted sites, the city's erosion standards list mulch as one way to cover bare ground. Forestry mulching leaves a layer of mulch on the ground where the brush stood.
Past the city limits, Franklin County is farm country. The 2022 Census of Agriculture counted about 73,000 acres of pasture on its farms, plus about 15,700 acres of woodland. Nearly a third of the county's farms run 10 to 49 acres.
On ground like this, cedars and brush can creep into pasture and swallow old fence rows. Fence line clearing takes the trees and brush out, so a new fence can go up. The skid loader and the excavator also open overgrown ground back up for grazing.
Cattle and calves make up most of the county's livestock sales in that census. On pasture ground, the excavator digs a new farm pond or cleans the silt out of an old one. Near a creek or the river, check the county's floodplain rules before any digging starts.
Communities and areas we serve around Ottawa: Downtown Ottawa, Ottawa University, Forest Park, Marais des Cygnes River bottoms, Rock Creek, Prairie Spirit Trail, I-35 corridor, US-59 corridor, K-68 corridor, Wellsville, Princeton, Lane.
Ottawa ZIP codes served: 66067.
Ottawa is part of our service area. We look at the job first, then put the quote in writing.
(620) 252-9314 A forestry mulching head on our skid loader grinds brush and small trees where they stand. The mulch stays on the ground and covers the soil.
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We open up pasture and yards that brush and young trees have taken over. A forestry mulching head grinds the brush, and the excavator pulls bigger stems by the roots.
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We clear building lots and parcels around Parker, Kansas, with an excavator and a skid loader. The stumps get pulled, roots and all.
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We level and rough grade cleared ground for a new home or a shop. Then we cut in the access so the builder can start.
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We clear volunteer cedars and hedge out of fence rows and tree lines with an excavator and a skid loader. The line opens back up so a new fence can go in or a field edge can come back.
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We build new farm and home ponds with an excavator and a skid loader. We dig the basin and build the dam, then shape the banks and the spillway.
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We dig the silt and muck out of old farm and home ponds with an excavator. Then we clear and reshape the overgrown banks and the dam.
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We build retaining walls where a bank or a grade change needs holding. The base under the wall and the drainage behind it are part of the job.
Learn MoreA few of the questions we hear most around Ottawa. If yours is not here, call or text and ask.
Send the form with the town and a few words about the land. You can also call or text (620) 252-9314.
Tell us what the land needs and where it is. We look at the job and put the quote in writing.