Pafford Land & Home provides professional forestry mulching services in Gilmer, TX and throughout Upshur County, serving landowners within roughly a 40-mile radius of our home base off Private Road 3235. From the Piney Woods acreage around Lake Gilmer to the rolling pasture country toward Longview, Marshall, and Mount Pleasant, we clear brush, overgrowth, cedar, mesquite, and unwanted trees with a skid steer–mounted forestry mulching head — efficient, clean, and built for Northeast Texas terrain.
If you own wooded acreage, overgrown pasture, or brushy land anywhere from Gilmer to the Barnwell Mountains and beyond, forestry mulching is likely the most efficient way to get it cleared. We operate a skid steer fitted with a professional-grade forestry mulching head — equipment built to handle thick brush, small to medium trees, vines, and undergrowth in a single pass. Everything gets ground into mulch that stays right where the vegetation was.
No hauling. No burning. No piles of debris to deal with. The mulch layer that remains helps stabilize the soil, holds moisture during dry East Texas summers, and suppresses regrowth. For landowners across the loblolly pine and mixed hardwood forests of Upshur, Gregg, Harrison, Wood, Franklin, and Titus Counties, it’s a faster, cleaner alternative to traditional land clearing — and on large acreage, it’s hard to beat on efficiency.
If you need full tree removal, stump extraction, or hauling, see our full land clearing services. For build-ready ground after mulching, we also offer land grading and site preparation.
Forestry mulching works best for landowners with meaningful acreage and real vegetation to manage. Across our service area — from horse farms and hay meadows outside Gilmer to the pine-covered tracts near Kilgore and Gladewater — these are the jobs we handle most often:
Clearing cedar, mesquite, yaupon, and brush from working ranchland across Upshur County and the surrounding Northeast Texas region. If your pasture has been taken over by encroaching brush or invasive species, mulching opens it back up for grazing without the mess of burn piles.
Clearing residential lots, homesite footprints, and private access roads — common work throughout the neighborhoods north of FM 49, the rural tracts around Big Sandy, Diana, and Ore City, and new builds throughout the Piney Woods. Once mulched, land is ready for gravel driveway construction and site prep.
Corridor maintenance on oil, gas, and utility right-of-ways across East Texas — an active part of the regional economy with roots going back to the Kilgore-era oil boom.
Wooded homesites on 2 to 20+ acres in and around Gilmer, Winnsboro, Pittsburg, and Daingerfield where owners want selective thinning or complete understory cleanup without clear-cutting every tree.
Periodic mulching for ranch owners and absentee landowners across the 40-mile radius — including tracts near Barnwell Mountain Recreational Area, Lake O’ the Pines, and Caddo Lake country — who need scheduled maintenance rather than one-time clearing.
Our skid steer with a mulching head grinds trees, brush, stumps, and vines directly into the ground, covering large Northeast Texas acreage quickly. Whether you’re in Upshur, Gregg, Harrison, Wood, or Titus County, we bring the same equipment and the same approach to every job.
After mulching, your property is cleared and relatively level, with a natural mulch layer protecting the soil. If you need additional grading, drainage work, or full site preparation for a build, we handle that in-house too.
Every job begins with a free on-site estimate. We drive out, walk the property, talk through your goals, and give you a clear plan and price before starting. No high-pressure sales. No surprise line items.
Clearing land in Upshur County is different from clearing in West Texas or the Hill Country. Our soils are sandy loam over clay. Our dominant vegetation is loblolly, shortleaf, and longleaf pine mixed with oak, hickory, sweetgum, and yaupon understory. Bottomlands near creeks — the kind you’ll find feeding into Little Cypress Bayou and the Sabine River — grow elm, ash, and dense vine tangles that can choke out pasture fast.
Chad Pafford and our crew have worked this terrain for nearly two decades. We know which vegetation mulches cleanly, which needs a second pass, and how to handle mulching near sensitive features like seasonal creeks, fence lines, and neighboring properties. You can read more about our team and approach on our about page.
We’re headquartered at 500 Private Road 3235, just outside downtown Gilmer near the East Texas Yamboree grounds. From there, we reach property owners throughout a roughly 40-mile radius covering much of Northeast Texas:
If you’re in the region and not sure whether we cover you, call (903) 402-7121 — we’ll let you know. Large acreage anywhere from Lake O’ the Pines to Lake Fork falls comfortably in range.
Nearly two decades of combined experience in land services and the trades. That’s what Chad Pafford and his team bring to the table. Since opening in March 2024, Pafford Land & Home has built its reputation on showing up, doing the work right, and treating landowners the way they deserve to be treated.
Proudly based in Gilmer, TX, delivering honest, dependable service to our community.
Your property is protected with comprehensive insurance coverage on every project.
Recognized for maintaining high standards of trust and customer satisfaction.
Active member of the local Chamber, committed to supporting our community.
Clear, upfront pricing with no obligation before any work begins.
Honoring those who served with special savings on all services.
Professional-grade forestry mulching head and advanced equipment for efficient, high-quality results.
Traditional land clearing typically involves cutting trees and brush, then hauling the debris away or burning it. Forestry mulching does it all in one step — the machine grinds everything on the spot and leaves a protective layer of mulch behind. It’s faster on large Northeast Texas properties, requires fewer passes, and leaves the soil covered rather than exposed. There’s no separate debris removal step, which saves time and cost. If you need trees fully removed and stumps pulled, we also offer full land clearing.
The skid steer mulching head we use handles a solid range of trees and brush common to the East Texas Piney Woods — loblolly pine, cedar, yaupon, oak saplings, mesquite, sweetgum, and similar. For very large mature pines or hardwoods with substantial trunk diameter, a different approach may make more sense. During the estimate, we look at what you’ve got and let you know whether mulching is the right fit or whether part of the job calls for a different method.
Mulching cuts and grinds vegetation down at or near ground level. For most brush and small trees, this disrupts regrowth significantly. However, some species — including eastern red cedar, yaupon holly, and certain invasive brush common across Upshur and Wood Counties — may send up new growth from the root system over time. In those cases, periodic maintenance or follow-up treatment may be needed. We’re happy to talk through what’s realistic for your specific property and vegetation.
It depends on the size of the area and the density of the vegetation. A heavily wooded acre in the Piney Woods will take longer than an acre of lighter brush on a Gregg County pasture. We’ll give you a realistic time estimate when we look at the job. For large multi-acre tracts, we often work over several days.
Yes — and in some cases it’s actually preferred near waterways because it doesn’t leave exposed soil the way traditional clearing does. The mulch layer helps prevent erosion, which matters for land draining into the Sabine River, Little Cypress Bayou, or any of the many seasonal creeks across Northeast Texas. We plan our approach carefully around sensitive areas and terrain features.
Yes. Some of our ranch and large-tract clients use us on a recurring basis — a few days a month, or seasonally — for ongoing management. If you have a ranch in Upshur County, a hunting tract near Caddo Lake, or a large property anywhere in our service area that needs regular maintenance, that’s exactly the kind of work we’re set up to support.
We’re based in Gilmer, TX, in Upshur County, and we work throughout a roughly 40-mile radius covering much of Northeast Texas — including Longview, Marshall, Mount Pleasant, Gladewater, Kilgore, Sulphur Springs, Carthage, Pittsburg, Daingerfield, Winnsboro, and everything in between. If you’re outside that radius, call anyway — for larger jobs, we can often travel farther.
Pricing depends on vegetation density, tree size, terrain, and access — a lightly brushed acre runs considerably less than heavily wooded, steep, or vine-choked land. Most of our Gilmer-area jobs fall within a predictable per-acre range, but we always give you a firm, written estimate after walking the property. Free to ask.
Yes. A skid steer with a mulching head is one of the more precise clearing tools available. We can selectively remove brush and small trees near fences, structures, and septic fields without disturbing the ground or mature trees you want to keep. This is one reason mulching is popular with homeowners in neighborhoods around Gilmer, Longview, and Kilgore where selective clearing matters.
