Pond Boss Forums POND CONSTRUCTION Building a dam Pond growth pictorial scrapbook

Hey Joe provides some motivation:
Thank you, Joe. We are very fortunate to have this opportunity. I doubt that it will offset much of the Brettski Gone Wild epic saga that St Pete will make me watch when I'm standing at the pearly gates, but I'm hopin' it will cover a box of popcorn. A big box of JuJuBees would help; I hear it's a 2 parter.
-
-
Well, the rain machine has turned off for a couple of weeks. The level has gone back down by 4" from the peak after a good downpour. I'm not pleased, but not freakin' out (yet). All the water that we see now is creeping back into the flats of the timber and wetland area. I expect that there is a whole bunch of absorbin' goin' on. What has changed, tho, is the picture frame of green.

We are done planting the entire perimeter with native grasses and major league wildflowers. I know that it's gonna take a year or two to really see how the flowers take hold, but I expect some action this year...particularly the annuals in the mix. I can't wait...bring me some precip.

...7 months later (from the last post, above)
Man, it's been a long time waiting...and I'm still waiting.
-
It's been about 16 months since we closed the valve on the drain. The first fall/winter '06/'07 was major league water and fill rate, topping at 25" short of pool. Then, the following spring/summer '07 was terrible. We got sporadic rains thru these warm months, but the level dropped and hovered around 36" - 42" short of pool. Now, we're seemingly back into the same cold weather pattern and have jumped back up to 22" short of pool as of today's measurement.
-
(normal pool will be slightly higher than the bottom of the galvanized predator guard on the nesting tube pole at right of frame...gotta adjust them up a bit)
Brrrrrr...

-
The tops of the cribs and the top set of spawn saucers will be the last exposed items to submerge.

-
The water was still dribbling in thru the field tile feed. I can't quantitatively analyze how much water it contributes, but I am thankful for it's participation. The last 22" of water depth will flood this (and the adjacent 1/4 ac) of timber creating the wetland area we planned.

Brettski, I see you have something I am worrying about this Winter - partially submerged structure sticking up through the ice. I am concerned about ice shifting and moving/trashing my (and, what the heck, your) handcrafted fish habitats and attractors.

Did you have any structure at the proper level for this to be a concern last Winter, and if so, what happened.

I suspect that given how firmly you anchor things, in order for ice to move you structure it would have to rip the bottom out of the pond. But mine is not that well attached.

Bski thanks for the update - nice pics. You now have another piece of info and it is good. In a dry summer/period you only lost 12-15in +- of water. That should mean in normal conditions you will stay near full pool (+- 12 in). IMO you can't ask for or expect more than that.

Theo,
I don't think my ice ever got too thick last winter; guessing 4" - 6" max...? The water level was just a couple inches over many of the PVC Christmas trees and a couple of the tractor tire pyramids. I am sure that a number of the PVC trees were frozen in at the top. The tops of the tire pyramids, too. After the spring thaw and the water receding during the summer, I was able to survey the ice-shift damage. The tire pyramids; nothing/zip. The PVC trees; most of them got tipped over, the worst about 45 degrees from upright. For reference, the trees were set in a 5 gal bucket with about 40# of concrete, dug into the clay bottom about 6" - 8". This all occurred with almost 5 surface ac of ice. I have to guess that smaller and/or larger ice floes would have relative damage potential. Probably gotta figger in the wind exposure, too.
-
Thanks for checking in, Ewest. That farm field tile will probably always be the wild card for in-flow. I really wish I could have seen 'er goin' this past week. I know that this new water level (at 22" shy) is no biggie, but it is new territory for me and I have been waiting since last spring to blaze this trail again. I remember in the beginning that I said that my estimated 60 ac watershed would likely take 2 years to fill the hole. I will probably be closer on that prediction than the total cost to make it.

Bski I want to come ice skate on your pond.

tagging along on ewest's remark.......no leaks dude.....with all that clay i wouldnt think the soil "wetting" would be all that significant either....bravo....here's to full pool in 08!



now you'll know how to budget for pond #2

You're welcome anytime, big guy! I'll have Dski slip into something Peggy Fleming-ish and you guys can re-create Beauty and the Beast on ice. You know, something that we can bill as the Rockytop-capades. (we might want to ride out the cold weather a little longer, tho. We're nowhere near Zamboni ice support thickness)

I stole the text and aerial shots from a previous post that I made within this thread. I just got the 2007 aerial strip map from my NRCS office and will add it the original pic line-up to update perspective of change.
-
-
-
The parcel, the way we found it, aerial taken in 2004.

-
-
The topo map, notes entered weeks after purchasing the parcel as I dreamed (the spring pond , as it was touted by the selling realtor, wound up being nothing more than a depression that collected about 2 ft of water in a bowl about 100 ft across)

-
-
After clearing about 90% of the timber for the pondsite, my NRCS guy took GPS readings around the clearing that was to define the pond basin, the dam, and the area behind the dam. The building site was not yet cleared at the S.E. end. He also picked up the coordinates for the new driveway. He transferred these to the older strip map in pic #1. I added the proposed clearing for the building site and beach/knoll (yellow zones). I also added the perimeter pond road and the access roads to the building site and meadow (lite green).

-
-
All the above excavation and raw development plans have been executed. The pond is already collecting water.

-
-
Summer 2007 My NRCS guy added the yellow property boundaries on this aerial shot (nice try; close, but not quite). He said the shot is summer '07, but could not offer the exact date. It's kinda grainy, so I can't see enough detail to make an accurate guess, but I'm gonna say it's around June/July. At that point, the water level was back down to about 3 ft+ short of spillway. He used a planimeter on the map and got about 4.4 ac based on the shoreline that he could see on the pic. If that is accurate (and I question it just because of the tree shadows), we would likely wind up around 4.8 - 5 ac after fill-up as the perimeter stretches a bit and it spills into the timber in the NE corner.

OK, that's VERY COOL !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Eddie

Brettski - This is very interesting. Thanks for sharing. I hope my next question is not too intrusive - Would you care to estimate how much this project would have cost had you contracted out all of the work?

Thank ya, Mr Walker. We should be receiving some updates on the progress of your pond project since you filled up this last spring (correct?).
-
Schroeder,
We did contract out all the dirt work. The peripheral projects (that still seem to have no end in sight) were the only things that the boss and I executed. I don't consider asking your question to be too intrusive, but I'm not prepared to to actually sit down and start adding it up. I am purposely staying away from that to keep myself duped into thinking that it was no big deal...just keep on working. (I think that Donna-ski has already caught on, tho).

One thing is certain - over the years of enjoyment it will be worth 20 times what you paid .

How much timber area will be inandated, how many trees? If it has any depth at all and the trees die and stay standing I'm picturing a nice bass habitat area.

Merry christmas Bski

May see fill with the snow melt in the first light of spring..

I don't have specific, calculated square footage, but guesstimate about 1/4 ac of flooded timber. Might be a little larger...? We planned the pond footprint this way to enhance the natural habitat. The center of this area is a shallow draw that runs off to the neighbor's property. This draw has received a lot of attention right from the get-go cuz it dictates how high I can back up the pond water before compromising the property line. We are anxious to see the results of this man-made wetland zone. I anticipate a couple of trees at the shoreline will die and eventually fall into the actual pond basin. Good!...that's the plan. Great fish and wildlife habitat and a natural looking transition.

It was...nice and quiet. Hopin' Santa was good to you too, big guy!

the last reported depth measurement on Dec 15 (4 weeks ago) was 22" short of pool
-
The midwest got a fair share of a January thaw combined with a good dowsing of rain. The rain really came down about 4 days ago. We got about 2-1/2" in our little pocket of weather activity. With the ground absolutely saturated and the subsurface frozen, we gained alot of new water depth. I'm pleased to report that we are now 10" short of testing the spillway.
-
-
(18" spillway pipe to right/frame surrounded by a patch of grass)

-
-
The docks are beginning to look a bit more in place as the water level reaches upward. The cribs, spawn saucers, and PVC logs are gone, submerged along the shoreline beneath the duck decoy in the dock reflection.

-
-
The red/white floats mark the end of the concrete boat ramp. At this stage, the top of the ramp at that end should be a little more than 4 feet below the surface (5 feet at full pool). This has become my favorite place during the summer. I see now why Bill Cody talks about a concrete swimming area. This has become mine. I put on my Rockytopper Blue-footed Booby beach shoes and hang out here (when it's a little warmer).

-
-
The mini silt pond for the field tile feed has become part of the aquahabitat. FH were swimming up and down the new channel, checking out the newfound protection. The larger ones had a black patch on top of the head...that is a FH, right?

-
-
10 more inches of water to meet full pool will do a nice job of filling in this little zone behind the nesting boxes and tubes to create a mini marsh/wetland. The bottom slope is fairly gradual from the edge of the timber and out for about 50 feet. I expect we will get good vegetation growth in this area. I hope I don't regret it; it might get out of hand...?

-
-
Back to the standard pond growth reference point at the front of the building pad.

-
-
...might be kinda tuff for detail, but a wide angle view stitching 4 pix. The white of the Sycamores looks cool.

-
-
...and finally, backing up on the building pad to the approx area where a house might set (next time, I'll get a ladder to elevate to the correct deck-viewing height).

-
-
I hope to return with the next set of pics, ushered in with a photo of water entering and/or exiting the spillway pipe.

Beautiful lake, Brettski. Don't you love it when a plan comes together? Hope you have many days to enjoy the fruit of all your labor.

Wow Brettski,

You've got your own project going there. And the pond is much bigger than our little watering hole. And bigger = more possibilities. Btw, how are you taking those panoramic pictures?

Yea, I also want to know about the panoramic photos.

Brettski, it is a pleasure to watch the progress unfold on your property. The magnatude of it is amazing to me.

Thank you, guys. I am sure y'all know the feeling.
-


I'm gonna direct ya back to this thread (my post a little past half way down the page). Ironically, the same page contains some real potent flashback pix.

Brettski,
It sure shows up well in those panoramic shots, it also shows how well you planned the project. It will be stunning in the spring.

S T U N N I N G ! ! !

I can't wait until we get the first spring report that you witnessed the deer , ducks , fish and other inhabitants in their reaffirmation of the joy of life.

Fill 'er up and check the air in your tires, Mister?

Bski Look up It's Falling water............LNP
?(your last post)