new from central pa. - 05/20/17 12:40 AM
Hello all, new from Pa. Finally decided to register instead of just browse. The wife and I bought a property with a 1/2 acre pond in 2012. Hoping to retire there in 2020. The pond is about 45 years old, man made, and in pretty good shape for its age I think. It was 8 ft. deep at the deepest part when made but now has 1 1/2 to 2 feet of muck and sediment as far as I can tell. Average depth is 3 1/2 feet. There is a lot of black muck and some cattails around the edges that I have been pulling by hand to keep up with. There is also I believe some kind of milfoil growing on a lot of the bottom. This spring I am seeing the start of some duckweed and filamentous algae. There is no aeration system. Closest electricity is 350 feet away. I have been doing a tremendous amount of reading and was planning to start a maintenance program this summer but now have another problem. The property above me is being logged and I am getting a tremendous amount of sediment. The pond is at the base of a mountain and is fed mostly by runoff. I have spoken to the owner/forester (same person) about it and he has told me he will make it right. I do not know him so I don't know how much stock to put into his word. I have also spoken to our county conservation officer but am not very enthused about their level of concern. I would like to hear some opinions from you guys about what would be realistic for me to expect from him (the owner) as far as what can be done to restore the pond. He has taken extra measures with the sediment control but the terrain above the pond is so steep that I don't know if it can be controlled during the severe thunderstorms we get these days. Right now it has been 2 weeks since the last storm and the water is still very cloudy. So I have decided to put the muck reduction plan on hold for now and just concentrate on the weeds until this sediment stops. (might be a long time) I am also concerned about how the suspended sediment is going to affect things. Any thoughts on that would also be appreciated. Ok, I will stop now and wait for the experts to chime in. Thank you.
I just realized that maybe this should not have all been put on the new member introduction. My apologies if that is correct.
I just realized that maybe this should not have all been put on the new member introduction. My apologies if that is correct.