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Joined: Apr 2006
Posts: 6
Junior Member
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OP
Junior Member
Joined: Apr 2006
Posts: 6 |
I am just getting started on a new pond on a my very hilly Land. We are building a dam in a valley and digging all of the dirt for the dam out of the pond. The bottom of this valley has a six foot ditch about six foot wide with three large tree trunks in it. They are about 50 foot from were the dam will be built. My question is can I leave tree in this ditch and just bury them ? The dozer man that is building the pond said he didn't think it would hurt anything because we will still have about 25 foot of depth above the ditch. What do you guys think?
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Joined: Apr 2003
Posts: 823
Lunker
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Lunker
Joined: Apr 2003
Posts: 823 |
Are you talking about leaving trees/stumps in the creek bed below the dam or beneath it?
In a lifetime, the average driver will honk 15,250 times. My wife figures I'm due to die any day now...
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Joined: Apr 2006
Posts: 6
Junior Member
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OP
Junior Member
Joined: Apr 2006
Posts: 6 |
Thanks for your help. The trees and stumps are on the up stream side of the dam not under were it is to be built. The plan is to bury these were there at . They almost fill the whole chanel and will be a bear to get out and get ride of. The pond will still be about 25 ft.deep not counting this channel.
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Joined: Oct 2005
Posts: 6,934 Likes: 2
Ambassador Field Correspondent Lunker
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Ambassador Field Correspondent Lunker
Joined: Oct 2005
Posts: 6,934 Likes: 2 |
Well, I have been hangin' back on this one because I can only offer a book-educated guess. As always, it all comes down to soil. Let's start from the bottom and move upward. If the roots extend into nothing but good clay and not beyond to porous soil, good thing. Do you know the type tree and the root structure? (For instance, I have a buncha Shagbark Hickorys; they grow a killer taproot. This would provide a devastating piping route if it extended into porous soil). Now, let's move up and consider that thought that this will be a non-issue because you are going to bury it anyway with good clay soil...or lay in a 2 ft thick layer of compacted clay over questionable soil. When the stump mass finally decomposes, what happens to the support that it provided the soil layer above it? If any breaches occur into the rotting mass, we're right back to the integrity of the soil below it. BTW, regarding the plan of burying it, you will have to make sure that the clay seal you provide across the stump field reaches laterally to and attaches to the clay that continues up the embankment. So where does this leave us? In my mind, 2 basic paths. a) pull the stumps and take a couple of swipes at the bottom with a backhoe to check the soil integrity (may as well while you're down there)...then fill'er in following procedure. b) see if you can verify the tree type and root system, pull a couple of soil samples next to the stump field, and proceed accordingly. If you have good clay to below the root system, fuggedaboutit and do whatchawant. If not, see notes above. There is a "c"...it's the possibility I'm wrong! That's OK if it draws the dirt guys outta the dark to help ya. I'm used to a few arrows in the butt if it helps a neighbor and I can come back later to fight another battle. ...and, lastly. Hearty handshake and a big welcome to the show. I'm very interested in your project as I walked quite a few parcels that were ravines rather than bowls...came dang close to buying one more than once. What kinda surface area are you hopin' for after all is said and done?
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Joined: Apr 2006
Posts: 6
Junior Member
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OP
Junior Member
Joined: Apr 2006
Posts: 6 |
Thanks for the help. Today we started to haul some white oak timber we cut off the pond site to sell and while the logger was there he had to fill the gully to reach logs on the other side. Before he did this he stuck the bucket of the high lift he was using popped the logs out of the pond area. Now we don't have to worry about this. I also got the first look at what the soil looks like. It looked great for a pond . I picked up a hand full of soil and made a ball and you could throw it down as hard as you could and it wouldn't come apart. Thanks for the advice and I'm sure I'll have a lot more questions soon. The pond will be about .75 of a acres.
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