Hi guys, I've been lurking here a while now. I grew up living on a 12 acre pond. Since I've grown up and moved away, I always had plans to one day build a pond on my own property. About 5 years ago, I bought 18 acres and built our house on it. I would like to get you guy's opinions on this potential location just to see if the location is doable or if there are too many issues.

Property is 18 acres. There is a steady rise in elevation from front to rear. There is a "holler" running north and south. This would be the location of the pond. In the attached photo, I have layed out the potential pond boundry and then have created 2ft contour lines to show depth. I estimate the pond to be between 2 and 2.5 acres. The elevation at the northern point is 998ft while the elevation at the dam location would be 983ft, making the depth 15ft in front of the dam. There is a dry creek bed running down the middle of the holler. It flows when it rains a lot. I believe the water is coming mostly from a pond to the north of my property.

I would remove and sell most of the trees in an attempt to offset construction costs (many mature hardwood trees). However, I would like to leave some standing timber on the northern side for duck habitat and hunting. I would rather not cut any trees surrounding the potential pound. I would eventually stock with catfish, LM bass, and bluegill.

Concerns:
My neighbor's house in relation to pond.
Pond being surrounded by trees (lack of wind and lot of leaves in pond)
Trees in pond (is this an issue?)

Clay would have to be brought in for the dam core. I'm in north west GA and my property has what we call "chirt"...which is a sand and clay mixture with a clay-like rock mixed in. Because of the lay of the property, it doesn't look like there would be a whole lot of earthworks involved...mostly just dam construction.


This picture is also attached in file form to better show my annotations.





This picture is looking to the south. It shows the holler running through the property.

I like the location of the pond. The leaves could cause a DO crash in the fall but I will let other comment on that further. I think your pond location actually benefits your neighbor as it could slow down water during a rain event.

I like the layout too, but I want to bring up a point about the trees.

It sounds like you might have "iffy" soil for a pond due to the sand. Get the local NRCS office involved and see what they say. My issue with the trees is that not removing them means that you can't compact the soil in the pond basin, which might lead to leaks forming in those areas, especially after they die and the roots start to decompose.

re: The trees around the perimeter. Any soil disturbances or soil compaction under the crown of the trees could lead to the tree dying. Either cut 'em down during the land clearing process to give the heavy equip[ment room to move around or possibly have to cut 'em down later.

Other points:

Figure out a logging road so they can skid out the logs, or have a temp road for the logging trucks.

Have you ever seen uprooted trees? Do you have a place to put all the stumps?

Where are all the tops going to go?

That's all I got (for now).

I have a different concern. It appears that the run off water comes from somebody elses land. You are at their mercy on what they do with their properties.

Thanks for the opinions.

What is a DO crash (depleted O2?)? Also, the neigbhor actually has water drainage issues so maybe the pond would help him out. My main concern with the neighbor would be if there was a dam failure, he would be flooded out.

As for the trees, I could cut most of them out and leave the stumps for fish habitat. Are you saying that this could be a potential spot for leaking?

My priority at this point is to determine if this spot is feasible or not. If so, I will continue down the path. I think I'm about a year or two away from starting this project. I don't know the potential costs but I am starting to sock some extra cash away. The cost shouldn't be too high. Most of the heavy equipment work would be in dam construction.

My grandpa owned a logging company and built ponds for 50 years. He's retired though. Plus he's 5 hrs away in sough Georgia. He will be a good resource for me, though, when talking to potentail pond builders. Speaking of, I can't seem to find any pond builders in North West Georgia.

Your local NRCS guy will have opinions on the runoff and how it will affect your neighbors. He can figure your watershed area, and should have knowlege about the height of the dam needed and if it falls under any regulations concerning flooding below it should it fail.

Usually the dam material is excavated from the bowl portion of the pond. So your depths would be even deeper (or some of the shallow areas made deeper) to obtain the soil needed in the dam. Even if clay is hauled in for the core center of the dam, likely the only economical way to provide enough material would be for most of it to come from on site.

NRCS guy can help you with recommendations on all that, including your soil type being suitable for dam material.

If I were you, I would take a drive or look on Google earth for ponds in your area. Find out who the owners are and talk to them. See what they did, how it worked out, and who they used for contractors. Learning from your neighbors mistakes might save you from making the same ones.

Lot of good ideas here on PBF, but no substitute for someone on the ground, in your specific area, knowledgeable with the conditions you will be working with.