OK, this long-winded, but I thought I’d share my experiences as they’ve gone. It’ll help me remember all this and all of you might find it interesting (I hope) or useful in the future.
Bought the house and 50 acres in late ’97. Beautiful pasture, nice stream flowing through which runs about 10-11 months of the year. It’s actually a named stream, which in Iowa means there are lots of regulations involved with any changes to it. In addition to this main drainage area, there are several smaller “ditches” off to the sides which all empty there.
I began planting trees and shrubs and food plots spring of 1998, and contacted local county folks to inquire about the availability of money to build a pond which had been my dream since I was about 12 years old. There was money available, and if I had time I was to visit them sometime and fill out applications. 2 days later, I started a process which has taken 5 years, but just now may come to fruition.
After going through REAP, CRP, SWCD, DCS and many other (I’ve forgotten all the acronyms) and several other programs, summer of ‘02 was to be THE YEAR! There was lots of money (who knows where from) floating around Iowa to give out for projects just such as mine. More paperwork and trips to the Louisa County Soil and Water Conservation District offices and we were all set to collect these funds and build PONDS. The gal in charge of the whole thing (Chris) made several trips to my home, and with a surveyor in tow, laid out 3 locations, all prime, for separate structures. After all, she said there was lots of cash and if she didn’t spend it some other county would. Might as well apply for funds for all 3 at once, and I had 5 years to get all of them built before the money went away…
(BTW, the main stream was just TOO big to consider damming up as it drains nearly 500 acres and would require a major “Corps of Engineer” type structure to control it. So the 3 sites were separate from this.)
Unfortunately, she must have told this to all the people she worked with, because over 100 applications were received and there was only real cash to fund about 5 of them….none of which were on my property. Erosion is not an issue (straight pasture, with great brome grass stand) and as it’s not currently in production, I got no points for that either. Another year down the tubes.
In February of this year, Chris called and described an interest free loan (10 year deal) which, while old and seldom used, was still in effect, and almost guaranteed. I laughingly agreed to apply. She sheepishly admitted that this time she didn’t want to get my hopes up after the last 5 years of efforts. No guarantees, but file the paperwork and we should know by May 1.
Well………I started calling in May, but no word had been received from the state. Called all summer with the same results. I’d given up hope, when a letter arrived September 4 which said I’d been granted about $7000 in loan funds to do what I wanted with. WOW…excited, I started calling pond builders to get bids on Saturday and had the first one show up on Sunday. I wasn’t familiar with the program, and neither was he, but he’d contact Chris to get the skinny as well as blueprints.
Next, I contacted bankers who, if they participated, would just render an opinion on my financial worthiness and take money from county to pay dozer operator up front. They’d then cut a check from my account once a year for 1/10th of the principal and forward back to the state. This was the tough part for these people, as they couldn’t grasp the principal that they had to loan NO MONEY, just do the lien (which a separately reimbursed expense) and render their opinion. They’d get paid $200 for this…but I got turned down by 2 banks before my mortgage lender finally figured it out and agreed to handle it. For finance people, they sure can be thick sometimes.
Chris said she couldn’t do the official survey til 9/17, but, lo and behold, they were there yesterday when I got home and will try to get the drawings out by mid week, next. Then, official bidding starts. The surveyor figures it’ll be close, but the 7 grand should cover it, and I can fork over up to $1000 (thanks to my wife) if necessary to finish things out.
One final problem is that it’s been so dry here this summer that it may actually be TOO dry to build. I guess you can’t pack dust and the dam would settle terribly if they went ahead and did it anyway. So…I may have to wait until it starts to rain before we can get started. Just hope it doesn’t turn into one of those 40 days/nights kind of falls that so often follow drought summers around here. I always worried that the good word would come in spring and we’d have a wet summer and have to wait til fall or winter to actually work on it. Guess that wasn’t an issue.
Oh well, the project is getting started, and I’ll wait on the “experts” to see when the first shovel gets moved. I’ll try to get some pictures and post them if anyone’s interested. Hope I haven’t bored any of you too much, but I’m so dang excited about this, the wife says I act like it’s my birthday every day…
Matt Clark
