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.

You could bury stumps in a shallow area of the pond opposite the dam and compact a couple feet of clay over it, but I would not bury it in a deeper part or you might get leaks. After clearing trees and the first burn I took a chain saw after the ashes cooled and cut up and re-burned what I could. We buried the stumps just above the pond, beyond the water's reach opposite the dam. I have had to fill it in twice since we buried last Nov, but it was not well compacted. I think it won't settle much more now.

You could reburn and reburn the debris. If you keep consolidating the piles you can burn it pretty much to nothing. I also found having a backpack blower sitting there blowing on the fire can get tremendous heat and reduce even wet stumps to nothing.

Or burn the best you can, then push the piles into one pile and push the debris in the bottom of the pond in a shallow area where you could get to it if it starts separating or moving around. If you lash the debris into a somewhat compact pile it will water log and sink and become a fish attraction without compromising the bottom of the pond

I personally would burn and then burn. I would never bury wood. It will leave quite a void in a few years.

Thanks for the advice guys. My pond will be a dug pond or pit pond so my thinking was that if the hole that the debris was buried in was sealed, then as the rotten wood settled that area of the pond would become a little deeper and I would have to worry about a leak. My main concern was if the water being above the buried wood would somehow cause it to float out of the dirt and pollute the pond. I'm not convinced it's a good idea but just thought I would get some other opinions on it. Hopefully when we get through burning there won't be much left.

If wood is buried at least three feet under in wet soil with a lot of clay and sealed in, there will be anaerobic and maybe also acidic conditions. It will take a lifetime or more to rot, if even then. If you want it to rot quickly in Arkansas, leave it loosely on top of the ground in a shady and damp area and termites will quickly reduce it to nothing. For that big of a pond, I would burn and re-burn as much as possible, and lash the stumps together and sink them in the pond for cover, about two to six feet under. They will water log in a month or two.

Where we live you aren't allowed to burn. We had to chip, chip, and chip some more when we cleared for our house.

Be sure stumps and roots are all removed from pond bottom too.

You should be able to consolidate piles and keep burning. Don't bury in the pond area, fine to bury anywhere outside of the water area.

Around here, DOT spec for hwy construction says that you can leave stumps under the road as long as they are covered with 5' of dirt.

Last year they widened one of the rural hwys around here. Under the old road they pulled up all kinds of old logs buried during original construction.

I think John F is onto something with proper burying depth and compaction possibly bringing decay almost to a halt.

Sounds good. Hopefully there will be a small enough amount left that I can just leave a pile somewhere to the side and burn on it more later. They only started burning a few days ago so maybe there will be even less left than we are expecting. Thanks for sharing your thoughts and experiences! I'll keep you updated on the ponds progress, hoping to be moving dirt next week.

My experience with felling and burning is that you just keep consolidating into a tight pile and eventually all the wood will be consumed. Find an inconspicuous area and designate it your burning area. You will always have downed limbs and undesirable brush/trees that need burning. I am lucky to have a skid steer loader, but I used to perform the same clearing/burning with chainsaw, tractor, box blade, and chains.

I wouldn't bury anything under the pond. It's going to rot and leave a void. If you get really lucky, it won't cause a leak. Why take a chance.

I never try to burn a brush pile till it has aged at least 6 months and preferably a year. Let the wood cure and it will burn to almost nothing if a person will push the stumps to the middle as it burns down.

For the guys that have to burn immediately (like construction) a contractor buddy of mine says dig a hole, push the brush in, and keep feeding Diesel to the fire while adding trees as they are cleared. He says it takes lots of Diesel to burn green trees. That is here where we have Pin Oak and Elm which do not burn good green. Some other wood like Pine might burn better green.

This is my thoughts exactly.

I don't burn or bury brush piles anymore. They are too valuable for wildlife.

Burn the roots, stumps, and trees in a pit. The ground will hold the heat in and even green wood will burn down to nothing.

Perhaps another perspective....wood whether it is burned or not, adds nutrients to the pond that can be used by vegetation. How do you feel about FA and other vegetation?

I had our pond bottom cleaned up pretty well when we dug it. I didn't like the idea of the stumps on the bottom, as we swim in it quite a bit.
We burned the tops, sold all the sale able timber, and buried the stumps. I didn't want a brush pile that close to the pond. (Just stumps) and I didn't want to haul all of them far enough away. We got $13K for the timber, it helped defer some of the cost of the pond. (Split with the builder, as he did all the work.)
The two pits where we buried the stumps have not settled. They are just grassy patches up in the woods off of both ends of the dam. (Quite a ways, from and above the dam.)