Right of way clearing means cutting the brush and small trees out of a strip of land set aside for a road, an easement or a utility line. For a private landowner, it usually means reopening a shared private road, clearing an access easement, or opening a route so power can reach a cabin or building site.
What Right of Way Clearing Means on Private Land
Big utilities and highway departments clear their own corridors with their own crews. The landowner version is smaller and more common. A private road that three cabins share has grown in from both sides. An easement across a neighbor's land to your back forty is now a wall of popple. You are building a house and the power has to come in from the road through the woods.
In each case there is a strip of ground with a purpose, and brush has taken it over. Clearing it gives you room to drive, to work and to see. Done with a forestry mulcher, the brush and saplings in the strip are ground in place and the chips stay on the ground. Nothing is piled along the edges, which matters when the edge is your neighbor's yard.
First, Know Who Holds the Right
Before any clearing, find out what the right of way actually is. Read the easement or the deed language. Recorded easements are kept by the county recorder, and a title company or attorney can help you read them. A survey shows where the strip runs on the ground.
Find out who has the right to clear it, and who shares it. On a shared private road, the neighbors who use it may all have a say, and some roads have a written maintenance agreement. Talk to them first. A road that everyone agreed to open is a better outcome than one that starts a fight. If the strip crosses wetland, a stream or a lake shore, check with the county planning or zoning office and the Minnesota DNR before cutting.
Power Line Routes: The Utility Calls the Shots
Bringing electric service to a new cabin or house often means a new corridor through the woods. The utility or electric co-op decides where the line runs and how wide the corridor has to be. Ask them early. Some will want to clear part of it themselves, and some will ask the owner to have the route opened before their crew arrives.
Work near energized lines is the utility's call, full stop. If a line is already up and brush or trees have grown toward it, contact the utility before anyone works under it. What we do is open new routes on your land, where no live line is in the way yet, to the width the utility gives you. That lets their crew see the ground and get equipment in.
Buried Lines and Breaking Ground
Older easements sometimes hide buried phone, power or gas lines. A mulching head works on what is above ground, but the work that follows often digs. Gopher State One Call is Minnesota's notification system for anyone planning to break ground, reached by calling 811. Whoever does the digging should make that call before they start.
It is also worth asking on the walk-through. Calvin will ask what you know about the strip, where old lines or culverts might be, and where the soft spots are. Owners usually know more about their road than they think.
How a Mulcher Clears a Corridor
We clear right of way with one tracked machine and a mulching head. The machine works down the strip, grinding brush, saplings and small trees where they stand. Overhanging limbs on the edge come back to a clean line. Trees you want kept along the margin stay, and the machine works around them.
The result is an open corridor covered in a mat of chips, with short stubs cut low. There are no windrows on the edges and no burn piles to watch. The mulch holds soil on ditches and slopes and slows the next round of growth. If the route needs to become a graveled road later, stumps, grading and gravel are separate trades. Our driveway guide covers that step.
Wet Ground, Winter and Keeping It Open
A lot of easements run through low ground, because that was where nobody wanted to build. In summer the machine may not be able to cross it. In winter, frozen ground carries it over swamp edges and wet draws with little damage. Our winter land clearing guide explains why that works.
Once a corridor is open, it will try to close. Popple, willow and alder resprout from the roots. A light pass every few seasons keeps it open for a lot less effort than the first clearing. Many shared roads set up a plan among the neighbors so it never gets that bad again.
What Moves the Cost, and the Next Step
The cost of right of way clearing comes down to the length and width of the strip, how thick and how big the growth is, how much wet ground and rock it crosses, and how easy it is to get the machine to the start. A grown in road with only brush goes faster than a corridor through young timber.
Calvin walks the route with you before giving a free estimate. Have your easement papers or survey handy if you can, and the width the utility or the county gave you. Then call or text (218) 461-7376, or send the form. Our trails and access page covers the service itself.
The Short Version
- For landowners, right of way clearing usually means a private road, an access easement or a power route.
- Read the easement and talk to whoever shares it before any clearing starts.
- The utility or the county sets the corridor width, and work near live lines is the utility's call.
- A mulcher grinds the strip in place, with no windrows or burn piles on the edges.
- Frozen ground opens wet routes, and a light pass every few seasons keeps them open.
Quick Answers
Who decides how wide a right of way should be cleared?
Whoever holds the right sets it. For a power route, the utility gives the width. For a road, the county or township, or the easement itself, may set it. Get that answer in writing before clearing.
Can I clear brush on an easement that crosses my property?
It depends on the easement language and who holds it. Read the recorded easement and talk to the holder. For utility easements with live lines, contact the utility first. Work near energized lines is their call.
Who maintains a shared private road easement in Minnesota?
Usually the people who use it, as set out in the easement or a road agreement. Many have no written plan at all. Talk with your neighbors and, if needed, an attorney. Once you agree, the clearing is the easy part.
Is right of way clearing different from clearing a driveway?
The clearing work is the same, but the questions differ. A driveway is usually on your own land. A right of way often involves an easement, a utility or neighbors who share it, so the paperwork and the width come first.
See our trails & access service or call (218) 461-7376.