Small pond build?

[dave1949]

These pics are my three ponds. All taken today, all have identical weather conditions.

The first three pics are the cleaned out old watering hole. You can see the trees on the original dirt bank, and how the pond sits on a sloped area. It is full but just oozing some water out the rocked overflow.

The fourth pic is the rain pond. Not much rain this fall and it's down about 8'. That pond also looses some water that travels along the bedrock it is dug down to. No clay lining.

The last two are the beaver pond which is fed by a small stream. The pond is almost full with just some water trickling through their dams. That's their lodge and some brush for food this winter in the fifth pic.

 

[Scott85]

Thank you for posting pictures looks very good my seep looks like the first 3 but I would say its a quarter of that size.

 

[dave1949]

So I should just clean it out maybe a foot to see and leave it one foot deep. I'm just trying to give wildlife a source of water that is on our property.

I meant too big in surface area, not depth.

Unless a spring is feeding water to a shallow pond at a pretty good rate, one foot of water is going to be skunky is my guess. And it won't be long before it is grown full with water plants/cattails/etc.

If your goal is wildlife habitat and support, then the ideal is varying depths. Deep (6'-10'), medium (4'-5') and some shallow (3'-1') areas would be my guess, but VA may be different than here.

 

[Scott85]

I meant too big in surface area, not depth. Unless a spring is feeding water to a shallow pond at a pretty good rate, one foot of water is going to be skunky is my guess. And it won't be long before it is grown full with water plants/cattails/etc. If your goal is wildlife habitat and support, then the ideal is varying depths. Deep (6'-10'), medium (4'-5') and some shallow (3'-1') areas would be my guess, but VA may be different than here.

Ok I didn't think of that thank you, that's why I asked this question here because of guys like you.

 

[dave1949]

Thank you for posting pictures looks very good my seep looks like the first 3 but I would say its a quarter of that size.

I wish it were a bit further from the road. That area has one of the best pond potentials of anywhere on our lot except for the where the beavers are. I wouldn't mess with that since they are doing a great job on their own, and the penalties are pretty stiff if you get caught. :laughing:

 

[farmer2009]

To cut down on water loving plants pond banks should be atleast a 3 to 1 slope. Stop be your NRCS office they should have some info on pond designs or get online.