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Land Clearing & Forestry Mulching in Auburn Hills, Michigan
Forestry mulching, brush hogging and lot clearing in Auburn Hills and Pontiac, about 25 minutes from our base in Royal Oak.
Auburn Hills is a city of 24,360 people (2020 census) spread over 16.64 square miles, about twenty-six miles north of downtown Detroit and a twenty-five minute drive from our shop in Royal Oak. As a city it is young, incorporated in 1983, but as a place it is old: the area was organized in 1821 as Pontiac Township, and the village of Auburn, named by its first settler Aaron Webster for Auburn, New York, grew up around his sawmill and grist mill at what is now the corner of Auburn and Squirrel roads on the Clinton River. The village was renamed Amy in 1880 and Auburn Heights in 1919, and in 1983 Pontiac Township and Auburn Heights merged as Auburn Hills. The city still wraps around Pontiac on two sides.
I-75 is the spine of the city. The Oakland Technology Park was approved in 1985 with campuses for Comerica, EDS and Chrysler, and the city's tech and office buildings now host about 80,000 people on a workday. Great Lakes Crossing Outlets opened in 1998, and Auburn Hills is the site of the North American headquarters of Stellantis. Oakland University, founded in 1957 from the gift of Matilda Dodge Wilson, straddles the line with Rochester Hills. The name Auburn Hills was first used in 1964 by Oakland Community College for its campus, a former Nike missile base at Featherstone and Squirrel roads, after the town of Auburn and the hilly ground around it. Each of those campuses has ponds, wooded buffers and unbuilt outlots, and between them sit vacant commercial parcels waiting on a buyer. Pontiac Township became a charter township in 1978 to protect itself from further annexation, the last step before the 1983 merger.
In Pontiac next door, the county seat since 1820 and a city of 61,606, the work is mostly city lots, side lots and alley fences. The equipment is one high-flow tracked skid steer, a Bobcat T86 on rubber tracks, carrying a FECON forestry mulcher or a brush hog attachment, and the work stays on the ground being cleared, with a chip layer left behind and no smoke beside an office park. Call (810) 776-8524 daily between 8 AM and 8 PM, or send the address and a few photos through the quote form for one written project price with the drive included. Because Pontiac is bounded by Auburn Hills on the east and north, a single trip often covers a campus in one city and a row of lots in the other.
Corridors and parks we work around in Auburn Hills and Pontiac: the I-75 corridor and Oakland Technology Park, downtown Auburn Hills at Auburn and Squirrel roads, Featherstone Road, Riverside Park, River Woods Park, the Clinton River Trail, the Civic Center Park area, and the city lots of Pontiac.
Common Jobs in Auburn Hills and Pontiac
- Retention pond banks, wooded buffers and unbuilt outlots on the office and technology campuses along I-75, walked with the property manager and priced as one job.
- Vacant commercial and industrial parcels cleared to the lot lines so a surveyor, a buyer or a listing sign can see the ground.
- Clinton River bank lots near downtown and along the trail corridor, brush ground to a chip layer that holds the bank, shade trees left over the water.
- Wooded residential lots on the hilly north end of the city, understory opened under the oaks and the back line taken back to the fence.
- City lots, side lots and alley fence lines in Pontiac, cleared and then kept cut on a schedule if the owner wants it.
Auburn Hills and Pontiac Work
Campus edges, river lots, hill lots and city lots.
Campus ponds, buffers and outlots along I-75
With tens of thousands of workers arriving on weekdays, the campuses around Oakland Technology Park are kept tidy where visitors look and left alone where nobody looks. Retention pond banks, wooded buffers and unbuilt outlots at the edges grow buckthorn, cottonwood and autumn olive a little thicker each year. Those edges are cut down to a chip layer in one visit, scheduled with the property manager and priced as one job. Commercial land clearing covers the details. The campuses at Oakland Technology Park began going in after 1985, so the buffers laid out then have had decades to fill in.
Vacant commercial and industrial parcels
When the Palace of Auburn Hills came down and the Pontiac Silverdome site became an Amazon fulfillment center, it showed how fast large parcels in this area change use. Smaller vacant parcels waiting on a buyer need their lines visible. We clear to the lot lines so a surveyor, a buyer or a listing sign can see the ground. See site preparation and vacant lot cleanup.
Clinton River bank lots near downtown
The Clinton River runs through the old village of Auburn at Auburn and Squirrel roads, with Riverside Park and River Woods Park on the water. Lots along the river back up to banks full of box elder, willow and grapevine. The growth is ground to a chip layer that holds the bank, and the shade trees over the water stay. Lakefront and creek bank clearing explains the approach. Riverside Park has a seasonal canoe launch, and River Woods Park has a paved pathway system with a bridge over the Clinton River.
Hilly wooded lots on the north end
The city is named for its hills, and on the north end the ground rises into wooded lots where the understory has closed in under the oaks. We open the understory, take the back line back to the fence and leave the shade trees. The hillside and creek-bank guide describes how slopes are planned.
City lots, side lots and alley fences in Pontiac
Pontiac is bounded by Auburn Hills on the east and north, Lake Angelus to the north, Waterford Township on the west and Bloomfield Township to the south, and its older blocks have side lots and alley lines that fill in quickly. Each lot is a half-day to a day, and several lots for one owner are priced together. Property maintenance covers keeping them cut.
Ground beside the Clinton River Trail
A 2.1-mile crushed-stone section of the Clinton River Trail runs through Auburn Hills, part of a 16-mile route linking Sylvan Lake, Pontiac, Auburn Hills, Rochester Hills and Rochester. Private lots and parcels beside the corridor are cleared back to the property line so the edge looks maintained. See brush removal.
How We Run an Auburn Hills Job
From the first photo to a finished chip layer.
Photographs of the problem edge
A few phone photos of the pond bank, the lot or the river bank, plus the address, show the species, the density and the footing. Campus sites and river lots get a walk-through, and the keeper trees are taped as we go. Photos taken from the property line looking in are the most useful, because they show the growth the way a crew will meet it.
Pricing the whole property
A single written figure covers the site, with the twenty-five minute drive from Royal Oak and the trailer move already inside it. Hourly billing never enters, and a multi-lot owner receives one number for all of the lots. Calls are answered 8 AM to 8 PM seven days a week, and a form or a text is answered within one business day.
Scheduling around occupancy
On campus sites the work is timed with the property manager around deliveries and parking, and on city lots around the day the gate is open. The machine remains in the strip being cleared. A campus visit can combine the pond bank, the buffer strip and the outlot in one trip.
The finished surface
The brush becomes a chip layer a few inches deep with the roots left in the soil, ready for a landscaper to maintain or a survey crew to stake. No pile waits for a hauler, and no burning is involved. Chips are spread evenly along banks and fence lines.
Auburn Hills Through the Seasons
When each kind of property suits.
Winter
Clinton River banks and wet corners suit frozen ground, and with the leaves down the property lines on the hilly north end are easy to follow. The Clinton River Trail corridor is easy to see in leaf-off weather, and lots beside it can be cleared back to the line.
Spring
Campus pond banks and buffers go first, before the growing season, so the grounds crew starts on a finished edge.
Summer
Vacant commercial parcels, Pontiac city lots and hill-lot understory run through the warm months, with the dry weeks reaching low ground that stays soft in spring. Pontiac side lots and alley lines can be handled between larger jobs, a lot at a time.
Fall
Leaf-off opens up the river banks and fence lines, and a lot or parcel cleared in October is ready for a spring sale, survey or build.
The Auburn Hills Landscape
Civic Center Park occupies the former estate of Wesson Seyburn, who married John Dodge's oldest child, Winifred; the estate had hunting land, dog kennels, horse stables and a Colonial Revival house, and Pontiac Township bought it in 1975, and the park now has nature trails, a fishing pond, a picnic shelter and a nine-hole disc golf course. The Clinton River itself rises from wetlands in Independence, Brandon and Springfield townships, passes through a string of small lakes west of Pontiac, the last of them Crystal Lake, goes underground beneath downtown Pontiac and returns to the surface east of the downtown. Pontiac itself, a city of 61,606 on 20.29 square miles, was founded in 1818 where the Saginaw Trail crossed the river that indigenous peoples knew as the Nottawassippi, and it became the county seat two years later.
From our Royal Oak shop the drive to Auburn Hills is about twenty-five minutes, and Pontiac, Rochester Hills and Lake Orion sit on the same stretch. Troy, Clarkston, Waterford and Birmingham and Bloomfield are the other areas we pair with an Auburn Hills visit, and a project that crosses the line into Pontiac is still one written price. Owners with several parcels, whether campus outlots or a row of Pontiac lots, receive one schedule and one price.
Auburn Hills and Pontiac Questions
How do you work next to the Clinton River?
A bank is walked first and cut from the stable ground above it, with the chip layer left on the slope to hold the soil. Shade trees over the water stay, and photos from the top of the bank help us plan the passes. Spring melt moves water along the Clinton River, so the chip layer is spread to hold the soil on the slope.
Does the work disturb an occupied tech campus?
The machine stays on the strip being cleared, nothing is hauled through the parking lot, and the visit is arranged with the property manager around deliveries and tenants. The result is a clean edge instead of a burn pile.
How long does an Auburn Hills lot take?
Most residential lots take a day or two, and city lots in Pontiac are a half-day to a day each. Heavy brush with saplings works out to roughly an acre a day, and thicker growth or larger acreage takes longer.
Can several Pontiac lots be done together?
Yes. Side lots, alley lines and fence lots for one owner are priced as one project, and the visit works through them in order. After the first clearing many owners add a cut schedule.
Which trees stay on a hilly lot?
The ones you tape. The forestry mulcher grinds the understory, brush and saplings, and oaks and other shade trees stay standing. The result is open ground under the canopy with a chip layer over the roots. A hillside lot is walked first so the passes follow stable ground.
What happens to the chips on a slope?
They hold the soil while grass and ground cover return, and they break down over a few seasons. The mulch guide explains what to expect.
Can open ground be mowed rather than ground?
Yes. The brush hog attachment on the same skid steer mows grass, fields and light brush, and the forestry mulcher follows for anything woody. Brush hogging explains when each tool fits.
What should I send for a price?
The address, three or four photos from different angles, the location of the gate or access, and a note on anything buried in the growth. For a campus, the property manager's name helps with scheduling.
Nearby Areas We Also Serve
See everything we do in Oakland County or browse all service areas.
Services in Oakland County
- Land Clearing in Oakland County
- Land Clearing in Southeast Michigan
- Forestry Mulching in Oakland County
- Lot Clearing in Oakland County
- Lot Clearing
- Brush Hogging in Oakland County
- Brush Hogging
- Brush Clearing & Brush Removal
- Vacant Lot Cleanup
- Lakefront & Creek Bank Clearing
- Site Preparation
- Property Maintenance
- Commercial Land Clearing
- HOA Retention Pond Clearing
- Invasive Growth Removal
Guides for landowners
- Buckthorn removal in Michigan
- Autumn olive removal in Michigan
- Tree of heaven removal in Michigan
- Hillside and creek-bank clearing
- What happens to the mulch afterward
- Choosing a land clearing company in metro Detroit
- Forestry mulching cost guide
- Food plot clearing in Michigan
- Hunting trail clearing in Michigan
- The worst invasive plants in Michigan
Sources and Further Reading
Official and public pages for the places named above.
City of Auburn Hills: About Auburn Hills
City of Auburn Hills: Auburn Hills timeline
Clinton River Trail: The Clinton River Trail and its friends group
Overgrown Ground in Auburn Hills?
Send the address and a few photos through the quote form, or call. You will get one project price for the whole job, travel included.