Land clearing in Boerne

What the ground is like

Kendall County is stony hills and steep canyons, with shallow soil over limestone. Texas Parks and Wildlife calls this the Texas Hill Country. Rainfall across the plateau runs from about 15 inches a year in the west to more than 33 inches in the east, so Boerne is on the wetter side. Cover is grassland, juniper and oak woodland, and live oak or mesquite savannah. The woody plants on the regional list are Ashe juniper, honey mesquite, Texas red oak, and yaupon. Ashe juniper is the tree people here call cedar. Ranching is the land use named for the plateau.

Cedar and yaupon close pastures, fence lines, and the shade under live oaks. Those oaks are usually the trees to keep. Mulching can take the brush and leave the oaks when they are marked first and the machine has room to pass. Steep rock decides where a carrier can travel. That is walked before the hours are quoted.

Shallow, rocky clay

Most of the Kendall County soil survey is shallow, rocky clay over limestone, such as the Eckrant and Comfort soils, with Doss and Brackett associations on the slopes. Eckrant is a very cobbly clay with limestone gravel at the surface, described in rangeland. Comfort is a very stony clay, also on rangeland. Doss is a shallow, calcareous silty clay. These soils sit on bedrock. Gentler cobbly ground can take a mulcher. A steep slope is slower, and some of it is not machine ground at all.

Oaks and the city tree rule

Oak wilt has killed oaks in 76 Texas counties. Do not wound oaks from February through June. Sap beetles that move the fungus are most active then, and a fresh cut is how it gets in. Paint every oak wound immediately, in any month. Texas A&M Forest Service counts land clearing and cedar clearing as wound sources, the same as pruning.

Inside Boerne city limits, Unified Development Code section 8.3 requires a tree removal permit before anyone removes a protected tree larger than 8 inches at breast height. The city urban forestry page treats oak wilt as a city concern. The permit applies in the city. Oaks outside the city still follow the Forest Service timing.

Floodplain and the aquifer

Work in the FEMA floodplain or the city's local floodplain needs a floodplain development permit. Applications go to Engineering and Mobility. The Edwards Aquifer Authority publishes a Boerne quadrangle that shows recharge and contributing zones. A tract is in one of those zones where that map places it. TCEQ regulates portions of the aquifer and says to check the Edwards Aquifer Map Viewer before building on a recharge, transition, or contributing zone. The San Antonio regional office covers Comal, Bexar, Medina, Uvalde, and Kinney counties. For a Kendall County tract, the viewer is the check.

What to mark before machines start

Bring the boundaries, the trees that stay, and any draw, fence, or rock a machine should not cross. Selective clearing and forestry mulching fit cedar and brush among oaks. The scope follows those marks, and the quote is fixed after the walk.