Ditch & Drainage Clearing in Charlotte, NC

How Brush Turns a Working Ditch Into a Dam

A drainage ditch or grassed swale doesn't have to be full of dirt to stop working. Once blackberry canes, privet, and young sweetgum or willow stems sprout in the bottom and along the shoulders, those woody stems catch every pine straw mat, fallen branch, and leaf that washes down during a summer thunderstorm. Within a couple of seasons, water slows down, drops its sediment right in the brush, and spills over the driveway or into the yard.

Clearing Vegetation vs. Regrading the Ditch

We are a brush and land clearing contractor, not an excavation or grading company. We do not dig new ditches, reshape channels with an excavator bucket, or install culvert pipes. What we do is remove the wall of briars, vines, and saplings so water isn't blocked by woody growth—and so you, your landscaper, or your grading contractor can actually see the ditch bottom and culvert ends. On many properties, simply getting the brush out of the channel and off the shoulders restores normal flow.

Working From the Bank, Not Rutting the Bottom

Driving a heavy machine down the wet center of a ditch mashes the banks and leaves deep ruts in the clay. Whenever ground conditions allow, we work from the dry shoulder at the top of the bank and use hand-held saws and brush cutters inside tight or damp channels and around plastic, metal, or concrete culvert pipes. Stems on the bank are cut flush so the root mat continues holding the red clay slope against washouts.

Keeping Debris Out of Culverts

Mulching brush on flat ground is ideal, but leaving heavy wood chips piled inside a narrow ditch channel or right in front of a fifteen-inch driveway pipe will clog the culvert on the next hard rain. Along the upper shoulders we mulch in place, and inside narrow flow paths or around culvert inlets and outlets we cut and pull woody limbs up onto the bank before mulching so the waterway stays clear.

Ditches vs. Regulated Creeks and Stream Buffers

There is an important difference between a man-made roadside or yard drainage ditch and a natural stream or intermittent creek. In Charlotte and Mecklenburg County—as well as in the Catawba and Goose Creek watersheds—natural streams carry regulated undisturbed buffers (such as SWIM and Post-Construction buffers) where clearing vegetation is restricted. During our walk-through we look for stream indicators, stay out of protected creek buffers, and recommend you confirm with the city or county before any work near a mapped stream or public drainage easement.

Setting Up the Ditch for Easy Mowing

The reason most ditches grow over in the first place is that a tangle of briars or a line of volunteer saplings along the top edge keeps you from getting a mower or string trimmer near the bank. By clearing a clean shoulder strip alongside the ditch, we leave it where you can maintain the edge from dry ground.