Lot clearing and brush mowing in Fernley, NV

Fernley sits on Interstate 80 in northern Lyon County. The city limits take in about 123 square miles, and about 55% of its homes have been built since 2000, so developed streets and empty desert parcels sit side by side.

At a glance

• City area of about 123 square miles, much of it unbuilt
• About 55% of homes built in 2000 or later
• Residential, commercial and industrial parcels
• One-time knock-downs or a yearly schedule

Who asks for lot mowing in Fernley?

Owners of vacant lots, investors holding land, businesses with unpaved ground, associations with drainage channels and perimeter strips, and sellers preparing a parcel for listing ask for lot mowing in Fernley.

• Owners of a vacant lot beside finished homes
• Investors and out-of-town owners holding land
• Businesses with unpaved ground behind or beside the building
• Associations with drainage channels and perimeter strips
• Sellers and agents preparing a parcel for listing

What they have in common is a parcel that grows weeds and catches tumbleweeds and no machine to deal with it. A brush mower on our Bobcat track loader cuts the growth to a low stubble, and the crew gathers and hauls the tumbleweeds and trash that the fence has collected.

Does a notice about weeds mean the lot must be mowed?

Read the notice first. If the city, a fire agency or an association has written to you about weeds or brush, the letter says what it wants and by when. Mowing is often the answer, but whoever sent the notice decides whether the work satisfies it.

Send the office a copy with your estimate request. We will plan the cutting to match what it asks for.

Is wildfire the reason to mow here?

Partly. The USDA Forest Service ranks wildfire risk to homes in Fernley higher than 89.2% of US communities, lower than the foothill towns we serve. It places 88.3% of buildings in the indirect exposure zone, where embers and spread between properties are the concern, and 11.7% in the direct zone.

In a city laid out like Fernley, an unmowed lot is the gap in a row of irrigated yards. Cutting it removes the one patch of dry fuel on the block. Four perimeter records of 300 acres or more have a mapped center within about 10 miles, including Nixon in 2011 (11,195 acres) and Virginia in 2006 (4,602 acres).

When is the right time?

A gauge about half a mile from the city's center point (Fernley 2.6 WNW) averages 7.61 inches of precipitation a year in NOAA's 1991-2020 normals. Weeds sprout on spring moisture and cure by early summer. Mowing after they have grown and before they dry gives the longest result from one cut.

Tumbleweeds are a separate chore. They break loose in autumn wind and pile on fences, so some owners book a second clean-up late in the year.

Clearing to build

For a building lot we take off the brush, remove any trees and stumps in the footprint and haul the debris, using our own track loader, backhoe and dump trucks. Permits for grading and construction are the owner's or the builder's to get from the City of Fernley. See lot clearing for builders and land owners and, for businesses, tree service for commercial properties.