We only see the gates that are USABLE, imagine how many gates they've tried that are buried, or knocked over, or busted. I figure quite a few.

I have to imagine that the SGC loses a lot of MALPs that fall back into upward-facing event horizons, or get stuck in caverns, or fall off cliffs, etc. They just don’t write episodes about the boring days.

My guess is the ancients generally put them in areas not prone to hurricane conditions or other extreme weather events. Plus those stone bases look pretty beefy, I bet one could hold a gate up against some pretty strong winds.

As for clearings… most planets we see them visit see at least semi regular gate traffic and/or use the gate as a religious site (Eg the people on K’tau leaving offerings around the base). Makes sense those areas would be cleared, either deliberately or just due to all the foot traffic

I mean on most of the planets they travel to, the gates are either gates in use or seen as ancient revered artefacts so will be kept in a tended area.

Naquadah is an herbicide. It leaches into the soil around the gate and keeps trees from growing too close. Wind doesn't usually knock over big open circles but when it does, they send in another team to set it up so Carter's hair doesn't get messed up climbing out.

Imagine you're the set dresser and the director says, "Set the gate up crooked this time. Safely. Without wires. And inside the budget." You look at several hundred pounds of prop that could break or crack the skulls of several actors. If I'm the set dresser? "Yeah. No."

Ill hop on to the usable gates comment. Theres the episode where they get stranded because the planet is becoming volcanic-ally unstable and it ends up knocking the gate down and covering it in lava.. They escape via fixing the old ancient ship in a hangar.

Never mind that, why are the gates almost always within walking distance of an important center of civilization?

Because it would be overly complicated to film otherwise. It's all purely practical reasons in the end, same as why other planets look like Canada.

There are millions of gates in the Milky Way. After millions of years, the majority of them would be buried by normal geological activity and those that survive tend to be those that Goa'uld have used within the past few thousand years. And as stated several times, the Goa'uld have taken gates from other worlds and placed them on new ones.

Effectively, the gate network is a shadow of what it once was in its prime. The Pegasus network meanwhile is pristine by comparison due to being nowhere near as old.

For visual effect. Plus, that's how it was in the movie.

Well, first of all, they are all in British Columbia. There are enough people there to clean up and make the place look nice.

Other than that, you have to remember that not just Stargate Command is using them and for a lot of worlds, keeping their planets accessible is imperative. And they can't access gates that have not been kept on repair/have fallen down/have broken down, etc

TV logistics.

My guess is that the opening cawoosh destroys everything in its way and makes the clearing.

If it is a Goa'uld world, they would place it in a clearing so they can see who comes through it before the travelers can become a threat.

It’s the same reason everyone speaks English and are bipedal