We are almost two weeks in to our pond project and almost 5 acres of trees and brush have been cleared. The piles are being burned but it seems there will be some roots and branches that may not get burned. My excavator has mentioned burying the leftover debris somewhere out of the way where settling over time as it decays won't be an issue. I'm not a huge fan of the thought that for the next several years I may have to fill in ruts in the area of the buryed trees not to mention that area is useless as far as any structures go.

My thought is, if we dug a pit in the bottom of the pond and covered the brush with a foot or two of clay and compacted would it stay down and decay and settle under the pond or would I be asking for trouble later on? Does anyone have experience with something like this? If it works I wouldn't mind the pond gaining some depth over time as the buryed trees settle.