Mastication and Mulching

El Dorado, Amador, Placer, and the many cities these counties encompass are some of the most forested and serenely beautiful areas in Northern California. Maintaining this beauty both on a residential and organizational level can often be challenging. Heavy brush growth, invasive vegetation, overly dense tree cover, and wildfires are just a short list of the potential challenges faced by those residing in towns from Cameron Park and Shingle Springs to Placerville, South Lake Tahoe, and everywhere in between.

Proper land management is an important and necessary consideration in these areas, and regular mastication service is one of the most effective strategies suggested by CalFire and the U.S. Forest Service to help maintain a healthy natural eco-system and reduce fire dangers.

What is mastication?

Tree or brush mastication is often referred to as mulching. But this isn't the type of mulching commonly associated with residential mowing that cuts and spreads small pieces of grass onto your lawn.

Professional mastication, sometimes called forestry mastication, is a highly specialized process that involves grinding, shredding, or chopping heavy vegetation, small trees, brush, and other organic debris into small chunks, chips, and pieces.

The first step in the process utilizes the masticator's upper blades to chop and grind biomass into smaller chunks (about the size of those found in a typical bag of mulch). Next, the masticator uses its lower roller to spread this mulch and redistribute it back onto the top layer of soil.

This environmentally friendly land clearing method mimics natural forest nutrient cycles and provides a wide range of benefits.