Land Clearing & Reclamation
Brush, trees, and years of overgrowth cleared and reclaimed — turning unusable acreage back into open, accessible ground that is worth more.
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Oak Grove is the parish seat of West Carroll Parish, and it sits square on the Macon Ridge, the high ground that decides how land behaves in this corner of northeast Louisiana. The town rests at about 118 feet on well drained loess, ridge dirt that grows the sweet potato crop this parish is known for along with cotton and corn, while three and a half miles east the country falls off toward Bayou Macon and the bottomland timber that runs the parish line. Around Oak Grove you can see both worlds from one tractor seat: clean ridge fields with fence rows creeping inward, and low woods that flood when the bayou swells. Clearing work in Oak Grove has to respect that split.
Big Cypress Land and Game covers this country from Rayville, down in Richland Parish, the next parish south. That puts Oak Grove right at fifty road miles from the shop, about an hour up Interstate 20 and Louisiana 17 through Epps and Forest, an easy haul for a single day job or a week long one. Owner Mike Martien is a nationally recognized land specialist and an FAA Part 107 drone pilot, so bigger tracts get mapped from the air before the first machine unloads. Land clearing leads the list, backed by forestry mulching, dirt work and grading, gravel drives, stump grinding, bush hogging, pond construction, and habitat improvement for hunting ground. Call (318) 235-7597 and walk us through your place.
Most clearing calls around Oak Grove start at a field edge. This is the town that hosts the North Louisiana Sweet Potato Festival, and the ground around it is why: high, well drained ridge dirt built for row crops. Every year the fence rows try to take some of it back. Sweetgum and privet walk out from the tree lines, briar fills the ditch banks, and a fence row you could once step over starts shading a hundred feet of crop. A forestry mulcher takes that growth off at ground level and leaves a clean mulch layer instead of a burn pile.
Bigger reclaim jobs run the same direction. Old house places out in a field, a tree line between two small fields that ought to be one, pasture that got away over a few wet springs. We size the equipment to the job. The mulcher handles brush and mid size timber in place, and when you want ground back in row crop production we bring the dozer, push and pile, rake the roots, and leave a surface a disk can work. Sweet potato ground earns that extra step, because those beds will not forgive buried stumps and root wads the way pasture will.
West Carroll Parish splits into two kinds of dirt, and every drainage decision comes down to which one you are standing on. Oak Grove rides the ridge at about 118 feet on silty ground that drains quick and can even run droughty by late summer. Three and a half miles east on Louisiana 2, the bottoms along Bayou Macon drop below 95 feet, flat country with poor drainage that suits rice better than a driveway. A house pad, shop site, or farm road gets planned differently on each, and we grade for the fall the land actually has instead of the fall we wish it had.
Gravel drives and access roads are steady work in farm country like this. We cut the subgrade, crown it, set culverts where the water actually crosses, and build the rock in lifts so a wet February does not eat it. Pond work runs from stock ponds up on the ridge to duck holes down in the flats, and the first honest step is finding out whether your dirt will hold water. Where the clay checks out we shape the basin, core the levee, and leave a pond that fills on rain and keeps it.
East of town the ridge breaks off into the Bayou Macon bottoms, and that edge is where the hunting gets serious. Bayou Macon WMA holds 6,919 acres of bottomland hardwoods starting about three and a half miles east of Oak Grove on Louisiana 2, and private tracts up and down the bayou carry the same timber: Nuttall and overcup oak, hackberry, and thick regrowth where old fields went back to woods. Deer work that ridge break year round, and when winter water backs into the low timber and sloughs, the same country holds ducks. People have hunted along this bayou a long time. Poverty Point, at the south end of the parish near Epps, was raised over this same stream more than three thousand years ago.
Habitat work sits at the center of what Big Cypress does. We cut shooting lanes, clear and prep food plot ground on field edges and ridge points, open stand access, and grind stumps out of any lane you plan to plant. Mike flies as an FAA Part 107 drone pilot, so on bigger tracts the first pass happens from the air: plots, lanes, and roads laid out on a real aerial map of your property before a machine unloads. That kind of plan keeps good bedding cover standing and puts the cutting only where it earns its keep.
Communities & areas we serve around Oak Grove: Epps, Forest, Pioneer, Kilbourne, Goodwill, Fiske Union, Darnell, Terry.
Oak Grove ZIP codes served: 71263, 71237, 71242, 71266, 71253.
Free, no-obligation estimates throughout West Carroll Parish and across Northeast Louisiana.
(318) 235-7597 Brush, trees, and years of overgrowth cleared and reclaimed — turning unusable acreage back into open, accessible ground that is worth more.
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Building pads, grading, leveling, and drainage shaping — stable, well-drained ground ready for construction, agriculture, or recreation.
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Access roads, gravel driveways, interior trails, and culvert crossings — all-weather access that makes your land usable and more valuable.
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Food plots, shooting lanes, trail systems, and habitat improvements designed to hold deer and grow healthier game — by a landowner who hunts his own work.
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FAA-certified aerial imagery, property mapping, and drone-based deer herd assessments — a clearer view of your land for planning, marketing, and management.
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What makes Big Cypress different: every project is guided by a nationally recognized land specialist with America’s Land Partners — so your improvements are planned around usability, enjoyment, and long-term value.
Meet MikeReal words from clients who’ve trusted Mike with their land as a land specialist with America’s Land Partners — the same care and work ethic he brings to every Big Cypress project.
“Mike Martien secured my real estate sale through very difficult circumstances. He went above and beyond what would be expected of any agent. Anyone would be in the best of hands letting Mike work for you and with you.”
“We’ve known Mike for over 30 years. His work ethic and knowledge are exceptional. He’s passionate about helping others, trustworthy, and puts his client’s needs first. We highly recommend him to anyone working with land.”
“Mike has lifelong experience dealing with land management and development. His experience shows in researching current trends and values. For the most appropriate valuations and ease of sales, he can’t be beat.”
“With an excessive amount of hurdles and more problems than anyone could imagine, he never slowed down or got discouraged. If anyone needs someone that is all about your best interest, this is the one to call.”
“He’s beyond knowledgeable about whatever it takes to get a land deal worked out — even the tax side. He did a whole lot of legwork to get it done. Thanks again Mike, appreciate it more than you know.”
“His commitment to his customer and to the detail of the task at hand is unrivalled. I suggest for anyone selling or buying any land to use him. You won’t be disappointed.”
A few of the questions we hear most around Oak Grove. Don’t see yours? Call us — we’re happy to help.
Ready to improve, enjoy, or get more value out of your land in Northeast Louisiana? Reach out for a free, no-obligation consultation — and put a fellow landowner’s experience to work on your property. Buying or selling? Mike wears that hat too, as a land specialist with America’s Land Partners.