Hello! New to the forum. My name is Troy and my wife and I are from Missouri and bought a cabin on 7 acres about a year ago. The place was not maintained and we spent the first year remodeling the cabin/house stuff and this year my plan is to "fix" the pond on the property. I have spent the last year or so clearing the honeysuckle and brush that has overtaken everything, here is a picture of about how bad it was starting out (pond is behind all the brush):
https://imgur.com/MgfJI6pHere is a recent pic after clearing a lot of brush:
https://imgur.com/oN0TENGBasically,
I am looking for resources on spillway design (the "natural" spillway is on the left of the picture above). I have access to a skid-steer so when the time comes I can move some dirt/clay. The spillway empties into a large ravine so my plan was to close it off with rock on the backside, flowing into the ravine. Possibly building a bridge over the ravine in the future.
https://imgur.com/jCrQprJPicture of ravine behind the spillway
The topography is perfect for a pond in this location, there is natural runoff from all sides and a creek running into the pond from the North. The spillway/overflow had failed who knows how long ago, but once fixed the pond should fill up nicely. Here are a few pictures:
https://imgur.com/19rESsRTrenched out a little to lower water level even more, you can see how once the spillway is fixed the water level would rise and enter back into the woods (currently still clearing/burning brush)
https://imgur.com/QYzZlEG"Creek" that flows into the pond.
https://imgur.com/SjJn0kqThe end product should be a keyhole design with the main pond on the left and the marshy/creek area going into the woods. Recently planted a lot of baldcypress in that area.
There is a lot of potential with this pond as far as landscaping goes around the edges, as there is a lot of natural limestone to work with around the property. My plan currently is to:
1. Keep clearing brush along banks/cutting out some trees
2. Remove rock from failed spillway to use for landscaping later
3. Chip up all the brush I cut down or burn
4. Close off the failed spillway
Any responses or suggestions would be appreciated. I still have a while to go but will be working on it all this summer so wanted to get a thread going to
specifically get ideas on doing a natural spillway/or concrete. And I am sure I am going to have a lot of other questions along the way. Thanks!