Land clearing in
Northfield & Randolph, Vermont
Clearing work around Northfield & Randolph runs to hilly farms, wooded acreage, field reclamation, private roads, and central Vermont access.
Estimate clearing cost↗The surface around Northfield & Randolph is till over schist and phyllite, generally stony, with shallow soils on the hilltops. Steep, stony hill farms. Production is moderate at best and the ground rewards a slower, more careful pass over an attempt at a rate. Long private roads, many of them steep and some seasonally impassable. Mud season closes real access here for weeks. Northfield's Conservation and Forestry District covers land above about 1,800 feet with slopes over 25 percent and bars buildings within 100 feet of any brook or river, while Randolph requires a grading plan and a 20-foot setback for earth removal.
A genuinely short window: after the roads firm in late spring and before they soften in autumn, or deep frozen winter. Long, steep private roads are the recurring theme on these central Vermont hill farms, and mud season can close real access for weeks: schedule around that rather than around the calendar alone.
What is involved in clearing hill-farm ground around Northfield and Randolph?
Checked 2026-09-01
| Factor | On the ground here |
|---|---|
| Landform | hilly central Vermont uplands between the Green Mountain spine and the White River |
| Elevation of workable ground | roughly 600–1,500 ft |
| Watershed | Dog River and the Third Branch of the White River |
| Mobilization zone | Extended: Washington / Orange |
| Measure | Value |
|---|---|
| Frost-free window | May 18 to September 28 |
| Snowfall per year | 75.8 in |
| Highest named summit | Paine Mountain, about 2,403 ft |
| Named rivers | Dog River |
| Named lakes and ponds | Vatters Pond and Dry Pond |
| Soils with bedrock within 40 in | 70% |
| Hydric (wetland-type) soil | 7% |
| Most extensive soil | Tunbridge-Lyman complex (38%) |
| Seasonal high water table within 20 in | 18% |
Northfield's conservation district and Randolph's earth-removal limits
Section 603 of Northfield's zoning bylaws (March 2010 text on file with the state) describes its Conservation and Forestry District as lands generally above 1,800 feet with slopes greater than 25 percent, thin soils or no town highway, where development is limited. Buildings there may not go within 100 feet of any brook or river, roads extended into the district follow the state A-76 standard, and single-family dwellings, accessory buildings, forestry and agriculture are the permitted uses. A clearing plan on the town's steeper sides should be drawn against that 25 percent line first.
Randolph's zoning bylaws (amended September 2009) list steep slopes, streambanks, wet areas and forested areas as features subdivision design must preserve. The earth-removal section lets the board require a plan showing existing and finished grades and proper drainage, limits how steep a bank an excavation may leave, and bars removal within 20 feet of a property line unless the grade rises toward the lot. For a cleared lot that will become a house site, those are the limits on a cut into a Randolph hillside. Both texts are older than the towns' current versions may be, so confirm them before quoting a number.
Clearing enrolled land can trigger the Land Use Change Tax
Central Vermont hill land is enrolled at high rates, and on parcels held partly in the agricultural and partly in the forest category, which of the two a given field edge falls in changes what clearing is allowed.