I am documenting everything I do on my property and learn here: A Texas Woodlot since it is not all pond related. I will also use this thread to show the work around the pond, since most of the work is going to be wildlife and human habitat. Planting trees and native plants around the pond, milling trees for construction lumber , clearing the unwanted tress and brush, and building human habitat. Here is a pic to wet the appetite, enjoying the fruits of my labor clearing the shoreline in November:

I love these type of threads. Looking forward to seeing more photos.

dittos to JHAP.

neat website jeffrey.

Had some time to go out to the pond and work on Christmas Eve. The previous owner left a lot of 2' tall stumps that resprouted right where I want to build, and half were thorny bodark with thorny vines all in them . At least these are not as bad as 16" x 4' tall elms with 20' tall stump sprouts on the other shore. Foundation is next now that I can mow .
Peninsula halfway done:

Peninsula after:

View from site, still need to mow:

Jeffrey3: Just read your Blog on the other site. This should develop into a very interesting project and one I will enjoy keeping up with.

Bing

jeffereythree, Checked out your blog and will follow your progress.. Have gone through many of the same steps and being a DIY guy will read your experiences with interest. This website may be helpful: http://texnat.tamu.edu/BrushBusters/index.htm for some of your projects. Noticed your mowing of volunteer trees. Please note that Locusts( if you have them) will be a 100 times worse after mowing. Use of Surmount & Inergy(surfactant) for foliar application or Remedy/diesel for very large tree trunk treatment is the only way to control them.. Good luck..du

David,
Thanks for the link, I have the hardwood stump chart from somewhere else as a .pdf but that is a nice site. I have been using Remedy RTU around the pondon stumps, figure it is a little better if it gets in the water. We will see if it works as well as diesel mix in the spring. Luckily, no locust except a little honey locust deep in the woods where it would be shaded out if cut.

Mike Otto came out yesterday to help me make sure my dam situation was OK. The setup is pretty unbelievable, you got to see it to belive it. He said a lot of engineering work went into it including rerouting the main source runoff. I can leave all of the trees I want on the dam. If a couple of 30" tree stumps are not causing a leak, then the 2-4" trees there now will not be a problem. The pond cannot be made bigger without a ton of work and a lot of tree deaths, except using the original engineering in a different way. He said a simple concrete structure with a gate for water control in it can be placed at the end of the dam where the original builders routed the overflow around the dam into the original stream bed. I could get 1-2 feet of water in the pond using this:

in a structure like this but all concrete:

It would only be the 1-2 feet height I would need to raise the water level and basically act as a spillway. He said to make it completely out of concrete. Now the interesting option is I could raise and lower any time I want by the 1-2 feet. Hold a little extra for summer evap, lower in the winter for pond week killing. Or, maybe even better, lower in summer to plant wildlife food plots for ducks and flood it in the winter. I would probably get 1/2-1 acre of additional shallow pond, and I can't go any higher or the creek will flood a large portion of my forest unless I only kept it that high for 3-4 months. Hmm, 2 penstocks at different levels maybe?

Great stuff J3. Otto is a wizard when it comes to pond construction. When I was at the Lusk Lodge last year Bob drove us around his property and showed us all of his ponds. During the tour (if I recall the story correctly) told us that he and had one idea of how the ponds would lay out and that Mike Otto looked over the property and said nope, we're gonna do it this way. The end result at the Lusk Lodge is an amazing string of ponds that are not only very beautiful but are also very functional as well. I guess this is a lot of words to say that Otto knows his stuff. There is a reason that he has such a good reputation.

100 Cypress and 25 Mayhaw seedlings coming in at the end of the week, and hopefully the dibble bar makes it in to. Next week I should be planting on the northeast end of the pond . Needed something that could take 6 months of flooding where some oaks died. If this works out well, then next year I am stepping up the planting program to another flood prone area and a couple thousand seedlings of various species. A couple are going in on the pond shore, too. The mayhaw is for me to make jelly once they grow enough. They are going in behind the dam. I should be picking up my new sawmill next friday to start cutting wood for people habitat: ie. bois d'arc for dock pilings, white oak for structural pieces, and cedar for furniture. I am trying to make as much of the building building material as possible from our property or local logs milled at our place. Hopefully I will have pics next weekend of everything. Any of you guys around Paris, the mill is a mobile if you need lumber made from any of yours trees .

Wow, J3 you are an industrious guy! Bob Lusk purchased a saw mill and milled a lot of lumber that was used in the construction of his home. Please continue to take photos and post them, we love threads like this.

Never heard of Mayhaw, I'm gonna have to google that.

J3 please keep us updated on how your mayhaw grow, I love mayhaw jelly and plan to plant some of these trees sometime as well.

Wildlife loves mayhaw too! So you will be making a lot of critters happy!

At ont time you where going to get the forestry service out. Have they made the visit yet?

Otto, the forester has not been out yet. It is a state agency and I am not a large landowner, so I am prepared for a long wait. If he takes to long, I will have already written my own plan written . To bad every used sawmill I look at is either junk or sells before I can get a look at it .

Does anyone have a recomended source for the adjustable flood gate?

Agri Drain has a design
A couple of pondmeisters on this forum have them installed

Well, here is a photo of my dibble bar. PH meter was on backorder, got one that works on dirt and water for garden, woodlot, and pond. Shouldn't lose the bar in the grass while planting! If only those seedlings would ship .

And better yet, here is the mill I ordered Monday, though mine is customized a bit:

Should be ready to pick up in about a week and a half .

OK Jeff, what is a dibble bar?

We used to call 'em a spud

Dave, see link for photo description: Planting trees It is a quick and easy way to plant seedlings, plus I like the name . I should be able to plant all 125 of my trees in less than an hour. It took longer than that just to clear the weeds where they are going.

Thank you for the lesson on the dibble bar. I found one laying around here & since "Mongo" was unavailble for consultation...I've been using it to chop/break ice for the horses. Works like a dream much better than the pick, axe, & shovel that I've been using for the last 10 yrs. Guess I know how I'll be using it come tree planting. LOL

Don't tell Mongo!

Mrs. Mongo

Your secret is safe with us, Mrs. S.

Thanks Jeff. I just realized that I have a low mileage tile scraper shovel from Harbor Freight that will do that. Assuming, of course, that we get enough rain to loosen the ground.

great info jeff3,

i was gonna say too dd1 that even w/ some rain, it helps to have soil....all my planting holes are dug w/ pick ax, digging bar, grub hoe, and landscape rake (to clear out the chipped rock...)

I am glad to see the saw mill had wheels. When I need something like that I know where to borrow one. Better yet maybe you can come too, Looks great thanks for posting.

Oh boy, going planting this morning! Got my little seedlings in yesterday, no work scheduled for today, and it is going to be 75 for the high!Taking out the new to me 1985 Montgomery Wards Lawn Tractor I picked up for $150 off CL, too.

The PO was an airplane mechanic and handed me a stack of maintenance records. He spent a whole lot more than I bought it for . I would post a pick of the trees, but they just look like little sticks right now.

Have you started a travel log for the mill yet?

Jeffery three, how are you going to mark your tree locations ? I have trees coming soon from the Texas forestry. I need to mark the locations so I don't inadvertently mow them or spray any herbicides. The markers are going to have to last long enough for the trees to start looking like trees(2-3 years)...du

Tom G: I have not pocked up the mill yet. The builder is in Arkansas and it should be done this week. The ice storm hit them pretty hard.

david u: I made 4' stakes from cedar limbs and spray painted the tops white. I looked at survey flags, but they are short and fade. This way I can repaint the tops. I have not put many up yet, ran out of time. Sink them in about a foot and leave 3 feet sticking up. Remember to use cedar with some pink heartwood, the sapwood could rot. Are your trees going to be in rows? Some of mine are and I just marked the beginning and end of the row to line up on when mowing. A lot are not going to be marked since I am planting in an area that was flooded for over a year. The water weeds have died off and I got the trees in before the land weeds have seeded in yet. You will run over or cut some trees no mater what you do.

I buy the cheaper grade of 1/2" pvc pipe (thinner walls; for sprinkler water lines). They come in 10 footers. I cut them in half. A #3 rebar (3/8" x 18" or 24") gets pounded into the ground and a pvc section gets slipped over the rebar.
The downside? If some jamoke swipes the PVC, you have a tire threat in the weeds.

Here are some photos, sorry none of the little twigs themselves(to hard to see in photos). First pic shows the planting areas. Red is mayhaw and green is cypess. Mayhaws were spaced 10-12 feet apart abd most were within 2-3 feet of waters edge. Soil tested at 7.5 pH, mayhaws like it acidic soil so I hope they take in this muck. Also, need to decide what I am going to do on the area I am standing on: wildlife foodplot or replant with trees.

Second is a better shot of the cypress planting area. Most of the oaks close to the planting area have died from flooding. planted with 6-8 foot spacing, some in rows but tried to make it look natural. The close spacing is because cypress seedlings suffer higher mortality than average for seedling planting. The competition will also make them grow straighter and taller.

Commendable job of revitalizing the flora, J3. We plugged in about 800 shrubs and 400 spruce last spring. The deer decimated the shrubs. The Norway Spruce fared better (known as higher resistance to deer browse)

Well, luckily pigs don't like my particular types of seedlings. Checked things over last night and they uprooted 2 but did not eat them. Otherwise, they probably would have gone right down the line eating them all. I was out there trying out the new sawmill . Hopefully I will have pics soon of the setup, got out there right before dark, and pics of dock materials. Cuts pretty smooth, doesn't look like I will need to plane the oak dock timbers. Eastern redcedar test board:

My father suggested a dock construction style he used on Toledo Bend. Sink a pvc tube big enough around to hold your dock pilings inside. Since they are hollow you can pound them further into the bottom by hand. Set piling inside. Fill gap with cement. Any thoughts on this? They used 6" pvc to hold 4x4's and used a piece of 4x4 with a 2x6 scrap on the end as their sacrificial piece to beat on.

Go schedule 40 if you use PVC. Unless it comes heavier than that (?).

I'd suggest a Wildlife foodplot for the area you are standing on. Trees are exciting and useful - but truthfully they take many, many years to enjoy completely. A food plot will reap benefits in 6 weeks time - and be completely fulfilling in 6 months time. You'll know what to expect from it in less than a year's time.

Lastly - if for no other reason - you can plant trees in the foodplot next year if you want, or the year after, or the year after, etc - while you mull it over. But...... you cannot plant a foodplot over the trees......ever, without losing the cost involved in a forestation project.

FH

A washed out cellphone pic of the milling spot. Now I just need to pick out an oak that will make a couple of 2"x12"x16' boards for the dock .

I've got some Oaks that would make the timbers that you're looking for. All you need to do is bring the sawmill! Heck, I think you could get 2" x 16" x 16's out of them!

Pin Oaks do well with wet feet. The land behind the pond is classisfied as a wooded wetland, and it's mainly made up of Pin Oaks (type of Red Oak).

Update time. Pics of the little seedlings in there natural habitat.
Cypress:


Mayhaw:



It looks like almost all of them made it even though some are now in over a foot of water. The forester said as long as the tops are out of the water they should make it. Also, here are some pics of my baby fish nursery. It is almost like an estuary system when my pond is at full pool.
Mini estuary:


Same area from a different direction, creek that flows into pond is on far left and spillway channel is in the center:



Spillway shot, mine is a little different than most peoples, this is about 200 feet from the pond and 6"-1' deep, and full of little fish:



Otto, I don't think I need to make that 1 foot tall dam to flood in the spring, it does it itself . Some may recall that I asked a question at the regional meeting about flooding extra area seasonally. This is what my pond does for 4-6 months out of the year. It seems to stay at this level until June or July when it drops back to its normal level which appears to be water table related. Between this area and another marshy area, I picked up about an acre of 6"-1' deep water flooding scrub and grass. I picked up a minnow net so I can catch and identify what all these little fish are . Grow them up in the big pond in the spring, then force them into the main pond to feed the LMB when it shrinks in the summer.

J3...that is an absolutely wonderful natural habitat. Wow, what a nature zone.

What an awesome property...

The place really looks great. It is hard to improve on mother nature.

Well, I did not think the pond could come up any higher, but it can. It explains why I have a lot of dead oaks since it goes back into the forest. When I bought the property last year it was at this level and stayed there until the middle of summer. One problem is most of my saplings I planted may not make it with the water this high. The new, greatly expanded fish nursery covers about 2 acres of less than 2' water and was full of little guys everywhere and I was sight casting to LMB hunting with a weedless deer hair popper with my fly rod . You can also see the dead oaks in the background:

The pond floods almost all of the way to the trees in the background. 3 acres in the fall and 5 in the spring/early summer according to planimeter measurements:

It will be interesting to see how my fishery evolves with this pond fluctuation. I don't feed and the pond was understocked with forage in the beginning by the PO. Millions of Gams are zooming around in those shallows now, though. Also, found out I still have a nutria around, chewed ash:

Chewed eastern redcedar, mmm cedary fresh breath:

Lookin good Jeff.

Makes you want to put a kayak in the water and go exploring.

Ought to be some really great duck hunting in the Fall and Winter. Of course, that assumes Fall rains that we used to get.

The water covers a lot more area that I ever thought it would.

But it reallylooks great.

Thought I would post an update and some pics. The dam is a little unorthodox with all of the trees:



Here is the marsh on the west side with the dead tree area in the background:



I am going to replace them with flood tolerant types, and here is a photo from the trees looking out to the pond:



The water has been standing here for about 3 months now and needs to come down another foot to get out of the trees. The oaks don't like it so cypress, tupelo, and sycamore are going to replace them. Probably going to cut the rest down before they die so that I can mill them into lumber. Here is our peninsula that we plan on building something on soon, just don't know what:



The slope is kind of steep, but gives it some good elevation for looking over the pond. For the history buffs out there, here is the concrete pad left over from the railroad's steam engine days:



The water tower used to sit here and the pond was built to supply the tower with water in 1898. We had enough water to float my lumber pile of its blocks and fill my garden tractor's crankcase with water, which is about 4' above full pool. Here is a parting shot from when I was about to leave for the day:

Your pond is a real beauty.

+1

You can almost smell the green grass. Beautiful.

Lots of potential there. Great history too.

Very nice!

Thanks for the pictures

Have not updated this in a while. Figured I should with some photos:

Cypress trees are coming along nicely, the ones that ware not planted to deeply.


pond november 5 2010 002 by jeffreythree1, on Flickr

The pond water level has stabilized and been at nearly the same level for 2 years now. The flooded grasses are gone now and are being replaced with wetland and marsh plants. If I had my flyrod, I could have sight cast to cruising LMB today in these shallows:


pond november 5 2010 003 by jeffreythree1, on Flickr

Main body of the pond today, need to do something about all the water primrose that makes shore fishing tough one of these years:


pond november 5 2010 011 by jeffreythree1, on Flickr

North part of the pond, here is where the stable water level has really shown itself with a defined shoreline starting to develop. Looks better than a bunch of dead terrestrial plants. The tree line on the left is still dieing off from flooding, and i am salvaging some of that for lumber:


pond november 5 2010 013 by jeffreythree1, on Flickr

Here is some salvaged timber from the flooded areas I cut today for my sawmill. Cedar, cedar elm, and a hickory log along with my Logrite Junior fetching arch:


pond november 5 2010 008 by jeffreythree1, on Flickr

The place is shaping up nicely!

Those log arches are nice for keeping the dirt out of the bark when you get them out of the woods. One of these days I'll have one (I'll probably make my own).

Beautiful!

Oh boy, going out to do some clearing around the pond today! After I get off the phone with customer service about my cell not working . I don't like to travel that far in my beater pickup without a cell and toolbox. The stars must have aligned yesterday since the brush saw would finally start again(dang ethanol gas) and my Stihl saw is back in action as a chainsaw instead of portable sawmill, and is now woods ported . Stay tuned for further updates.

Here is the before:


pond january 19 2011 010 by jeffreythree1, on Flickr

and here is after some clearing:


pond january 19 2011 015 by jeffreythree1, on Flickr
There is a section of old dam that sticks out here that we want to turn into a campsite with hopefully a covered deck, but just having it cleared gives us a spot. I only have ~4 hours to work before I need to head home each trip; so one more day ought to knock out the clearing. I need to decide whether to chip the brush or burn it.

Beaver is definitely still there:

Green ash:


pond january 19 2011 011 by jeffreythree1, on Flickr

Willow that I would have had to cut and drag out of the water:


pond january 19 2011 008 by jeffreythree1, on Flickr

And it's home:


pond january 19 2011 006 by jeffreythree1, on Flickr

Apparently we have an algae bloom in progress, the water is a nice shade of green in that last photo.

Hey, Jeffrey, did you know there is a pond behind that tangle of trees and brush? Might be cool to keep on cutting and see if you can get to it - there could be some good fishing!

Nice pics and great looking water - you're right about it looking really healthy. While I would not want a beaver to make his home in my pond, I think, it does look pretty cool to see his lodge on that far bank. Nuisance or not, they're pretty amazing animals.

The traps are set and it is time to wait. Mr. Beaver will not be munching on our trees anymore, hopefully. I want to thank Chris for showing me how to safely set the 330's and his friend for helping with the sticks. The little nuisance raised the full pool level another foot in a month by finally blocking the pipe and pushing mud in the spillway.

It is a continuing job. They are not stupid. Catch one and the others get wary. You most likely will have to move the traps around. Even if you catch all of them more will show up later. Keep after them.

That is something you can always count on the little rascals will be back.
Looked at a pond this morning that was showing the return of the beavers. They had been trapped out once before, thought they where gone. No such luck, at least this time they where discovered before they stopped up the pipe.

I will be checking them in a few days and at least I now have the traps and know what to do with them for future issues. Mowing everything for the first time in over a year as well. It is a pain walking through knee high weeds, even if they are dried up and dead. Hopefully I will have a box blade by then as well to start knocking down the lumps and bumps that make it hard for my wife's wheelchair and scooter to get anywhere.

The beaver is dead, but was nasty so I looped a chain through the spring and attached it to a tree in the woods. The scavengers can clean it for me. I have no idea where the other trap ended up, not anywhere I can tell. Tripped and drug off somewhere maybe? All of the sticks we stuck in the mud to guide the beaver into the trap were gone as well. Hopefully this was the only one or the other trap got a second one since I had nothing to reset. It made 2 more ponds on the creek behind the dam before the trap got it.

Really dead beaver, vultures were just starting to work on it when I drove up:


pond march 4 2011 002 by jeffreythree1, on Flickr

New pond number 1, natural low spot had a little help with a mud pushing beaver.


pond march 4 2011 007 by jeffreythree1, on Flickr

New pond 2, outflow creek dammed by the rascal:


pond march 4 2011 003 by jeffreythree1, on Flickr

It raised the water level so high my shooting lane is waterlogged and the feeder could now be used for fish:


pond march 4 2011 005 by jeffreythree1, on Flickr

I got to play with the tractor finalley and mow the main access areas of the pond and the ~1000 ft of dam top:


pond march 4 2011 001 by jeffreythree1, on Flickr

One of these days I need someone with a mulching head to come in, this is my dam and there is a pond somewhere on the left. The mower at least made it where I can walk the top and a brush cutter to cut access points to the water:


pond march 4 2011 008 by jeffreythree1, on Flickr

But not enough time for the heavy duty box blade I picked up yesterday:


gannon box blade 002 by jeffreythree1, on Flickr

Glad you got one beaver. Watch for new chewed sticks. They can change the landscape as you show. Lot of brush to cut and beaver to deal with. I know the feeling.

The fruits of my labor, enjoying her first trip to the pond yesterday:

Lunch by the pond:

macie 483 by jeffreythree1, on Flickr


"Come on Dad, lets get goin'!"

macie 485 by jeffreythree1, on Flickr


Maybe she will pull me around the pond one day:

macie 491 by jeffreythree1, on Flickr


Only mishaps were she discovered the nice loose dirt of an ant pile is NOT fun to play with and someone stole all of my cheap HF trespassing signs I hung a month ago. Luckily it was cool and they did not get her to bad and I now have a cheap HF laminator to make lots of even cheaper signs. We also measured the state champion nutmeg hickory while we were there and need the forester to come out to confirm. No new beaver sign was evident as we walked around and even found my missing trap. Overall a good day to be at the pond .

Awesome Jeffrey. Congratulations.

Was anything in the trap?

Nothing was in that trap but some pond weeds. Something knocked over all of the sticks we put in to guide a beaver to it and the ones holding it in position, and also knocked it into deeper water. Water was clearer yesterday so I could see it laying on the bottom. First time since buying that I have not had an FA problem in the spring, and I am not that far from george who does . Pretty cool to see lots of LMB in the shallows appearing to be on nests. I am going to leave the pond at the high beaver level until late summer in an effort to give the BG more spawning habitat. They have made it a 5 acre pond up from its usual 3.

Great thread, keep the info. coming...I have alot to learn.

Have not been on the site much lately(or to our pond), and priorities keep getting shuffled. We are now looking for a handicap accessible travel trailer to haul out there so my wife can be comfortable and to contain our daughter while I work. I figure it is the best solution for no access to water and electricity at the pond, and no construction involved since half finished projects seem to have become my specialty. I hope to get out soon to mow and plot out clearing the spillway and overflow pipe the beaver filled with mud.