Pond Boss Forums POND CONSTRUCTION Creating habitat Beaverboy-one man, one spade, and a vision

I haven't been to the pondboss forum much of late. Usually have lurked once a month or so for awhile. But I'm starting this topic for the exploration into the psych of Beaverboy.

All I have is a spade and a determination to create an ecosystem that supports more life for my fellow wildlife friends. Being that one of the more important ingredients is water, I have the ability to transform myself into Beaverboy. Adhering to the busy as a beaver phrase, I grab my spade and get to work. My work starts in the uplands and vernal ponds will be created, one after another.

Beaverboy


This will be the highest vernal pond, none will be above this one.


2 pics of the dam of beaverboy's 4th vernal pond.




The concept is simple for me. Just keep working down the line and I'll go from vernal pond at some point, to creating a waterhole that actually keeps water throughout the year. The adventures of beaverboy to be continued......

I like it!!

If you want water to stay year-round though, you'd better add at least a tamper to your arsenal and dig a small core trench to re-fill with good clay.

What? No wheelbarrow?
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Been awhile, Lance. Looks like you're stayin' busy, man. Your fellow wildlife friends have a trustworthy advocate.

A mono-maniac on a mission!


PS. What's the spillway design?

I hate to tell you this, but a real beaver uses only his paws, teeth, and tail to build dams.

All seriousness aside, it's amazing what a few pools of water do for the ecosystem. When I was a kid, I used to fish a gully in a sandy area. Most of the year, there was only a trickle of water, and a series of ~8'x10' pools. Almost every pool held a scrappy spotted bass, red breast sunfish, bullhead, and large shiners. All sorts of other animals used the pools, including turtles, frogs, and snakes, and birds around the pools. Sometimes I would even see a beaver, but they never seem build dams down here. Good luck!

The ones I've built this year, I'm hoping they actually don't hold water year round. Therefore, things like fish or bullfrogs won't take hold, and small lil critters will be able to enjoy friendly breeding grounds. The concept of a vernal pond is that it briefly holds water a few months of the year. They obtain enough water from snowmelt and spring rains to hold them through the summer, and by fall, they are dry. This fall, its been quite wet, so a couple of the ones I have built have water already. Even saw a tiny frog enjoying the playground.


In 2005 I started this vernal pond addiction. But the problem was that I underestimated how much water can quickly go through an area. This vernal pond quickly turned out to be not so vernal afterall.
(spring 2007 pic)
With a heavy snowmelt and a flood in 2007, the pipe was quickly washed out, and this has kept water in it for 3 years running..... I also did a couple other ponds in that year, that just had too much flow going through them. But there was one pond way high in the uplands also built in 2005, that indeed did function as a vernal pond should. So that's why I've decided to work from the highest point possible and work my way down from now on.



With having very little watershed running into them, I just have these vernal ponds so they run around the end. But my eyes must play tricks on me, because the vernal pond I built in 2005, had that design, but the top of the dam ended up being lower so it didn't run around the end, and ran over the top. But the structure didn't suffer though because of the tiny watershed. I dug out that vernal pond some this summer and topped it. Including that vernal pond and the 6 I dug this year, I have seven so far, one after another.




beaverboy has had a lil help with a wheelbarrow also . But so far, terrain more or less has been too hard to use a wheelbarrow efficiently.


yep, I was going to start a topic awhile ago, showing pics of a neighbor's pond getting built. Its about a mile away, and I walk by it every couple months while hiking along. I do intend to make that topic still. I have before and after pics of it and would be entertaining enough for a place like this.

I'll admit I have no idea what a vernal pond is. I like your description of it though.

What I was suggesting a tamper for was, to quote you, the "waterhole that actually keeps water throughout the year".

I have a couple of these type of ponds on my property. When deer season is over I would like to build one on ever small ditch.

I can build one with the backhoe in about 10 minutes.

Vernal ponds are essential for some salamanders to successfully reproduce. They are a great addition to further diversify wildlife on your land.
Good job Beaver Boy!

Well if he built it with a backhoe then he wouldn't be beaver boy now would he?

So true, Beaver Boy uses only lowtech tools for his dirt work. Also don't like hearing machinery, and work just couple hours a day and get to enjoy the sounds of nature while working.

Beaver Boy

It sounds to me like you lead the life of Riley.

Doing dirt work without any noise oil or breakdowns.

Do you live off the fat of the land?

Otto

He eats bark!

The noise was half the reason I got into operating machinery. The rest is in the blood. I still like the sounds of nature too, but I gave up using the hickory highlift long ago. My shovels have rusted a lot since I bought my first dozer.

I havent been on this forum in a while i couldnt remember my old log in name but im with beaver boy... its a good workout

After seeding this pond I raked the entire area with a garden rake.

Beaverboy,
How goes the big bamboo project?

For instant gratification, I have giant reed to hold me over


My bamboo is doing its own thing, running around in the ground- gaining new territory each year, but hasn't increased much in height. I think my tallest so far has been 8ft tall. The iowa winters kill it to the ground each year so far, but in due time I may see increased hardiness as it gets established here. Some are spectacular looking such as spectabilis


Also have gotten a rare one this year that suppose to be one of the more hardy ones. I think I have 30+ species of bamboo. Some have died by nature, some by my own hand. The best shall survive, and give me hope of an evergreen bamboo.

I hope for the land to provide all my food needs, but am not there yet. Its a slow process from going from one lifestyle, where junkfood was the basis of my food diet, onto a diet that is more natural. It takes getting used to such things.
I'll let pictures give more of an idea of the food adventures of Beaver Boy

Thanks beaver boy

That answered that

Those fruits and veggies look great, but please don't tell me that you eat cats!

"Alf Beaver Boy" - how's that sound?

I don't have any catfish yet, so I have to make do with the next best thing.

BB, this is really interesting. Please keep the stories, pictures and adventures coming.

Thought I would do a little update. My vernal ponds have all pretty much dried up since its been dry spring. They were fun to see with water earlier this spring. I'm up to 9 since I built another one this spring and hopefully will get alot more built this year.

February pic of snowmelt filling up the first two

A beaver lodge I saw last month.

Beavers are territorial, so you can pretty much guess what happened to it, considering the beaver genetics that run through my veins.

Beavers are crazy animals, always busy building something

Very interesting. Do tell more, looks like an earthen version of a Yurt.

Where are the rifle ports?

haha, after a problem occurred, took out the gun port and rebuilt it as easy as possible since ran out of time. It suppose to have been dome shaped, but after the problem, cut down the proposed height and just had flat roof put on it, using logs. Diameter is 12'
Elements that I bought were the sandbags and plastic sheeting. Everything else was pretty much from the forest itself, such as soil and logs, and also from ditch diving. Its the first structure I've built, pretty makeshift-like, and just experimenting with earthbag ideas. Probably use it as emergency shelter if caught in a thunderstorm while in the woods. Pic shows some more berming will need to be done.

Are you working on any writings or manifestos currently?

I remember having that much energy, I just can't remember what I did with it all. I am guessing there is no beavergirl, or that lodge would still be a twinkle in your eye.

haha, nope, no beavergirl

Hey, thanks for asking, yep I do. I sent a pm and you can read some of it, but its easier to read in the 400 page pdf file, so I'll email it to you if you want.

Took this pic today, looks like a big pile of snow


next update on this thread should come early next summer when I'm finished building a pond with a wheelbarrow.

BeaverBoy...Say it ain't so.

yikes that's a scary guy,
here is a pic of me

no resemblance

Nope. No resemblance at all. Sorry for the confusion....I'll be leaving now!! Did I ever tell you that beavers are my favorite animals?

Uni-Beaver?

On second thought, never mind.

You can have all of mine.

"Hey, thanks for asking, yep I do. I sent a pm and you can read some of it, but its easier to read in the 400 page pdf file, so I'll email it to you if you want."

OK, I'll be glad to peruse it as long as it doesn't land me on some kind of federal watch-list!

I can't guarantee that. Because there is a few pages about using fish, and as an owner of a pond, you would probably be thoroughly investigated.

Interesting pic of what outside looks like now
Ice sculpture

Nice work BB, I saw something like that in mother earth magazine while I was at the dentist. I might try that; I was always afraid the top of the dome would collapse on me. lol

few more icy pics

Yeah, it does sound scary having that much soil above oneself. Though they have been even tested and can even resist earthquakes well. But I didn't go into the project with a well thought out planning, so I had to scrap the dome idea when it ended up like this

but flat top worked out well, blends in great, and I really didn't have enough time to devote to everything that needed to be done on the dome project. I didn't plan on building one this year, was last second type of deal. I was talking about earthbags to people, and they wanted to see me do one.

How is your mate search going?

I was going to order one last week by mail-order, but wouldn't arrive in time for Christmas, So I passed.

It has been awhile since I updated my thread. I am up to nearly 50 vernal ponds in the uplands. Here is the biggest one so far, was using wheelbarrow on it.

HI BB, 50 that's great. How much property do you have?

Bad year this year with the drought going on, got rid of the cattle, so ended up working on the ponds that had decades of erosion fill them in. A lot of people took the opportunity to work on their ponds that dried up.

2 of our cattle ponds were dried up, probably around 1/4-1/3 acre in size each. The acre pond still had water in it, so never did as much with that one, but was some dry areas in it, so trackhoe guy did start digging a hole to china in there.


Also the dam was eroded bad by cattle, so they fixed that so can drive across it easily




Small pond that feeds into the big one usually has water in it, but is only a couple feet deep. So had that dug out, mostly a bulldozer could do it, was dry deep down.

This was a before photo, with the goose nest in the middle I had built. Earlier this year the goose had nest on it and had some goslings, had a little water still in it at that time, grew up in weeds since then.



this photo shows its a little deeper than 2ft now


These two ponds have springs that feed them too during normal times, but third pond just gets water from runoff and has a lot less watershed. It was made in the 1960s, worked on the 70s, and cattle and time has chipped away at it for the past 40 years until it ceased to exist. I fantasized what I wanted it to look like, and reality looks just as great to me





Less than 2 days work and around 4k later, money well spent.

My family has around 180 acres, as money allows, slowly turning into it into an oasis.

Is that a llama behind the dam, or is JHAP working the rural Iowa club circuit with his sock puppet show?

Good eyes! Looks like a llama to me.

I think JHAP is lurking in the bushes tho!

Yep, we do have a llama, but to be safe, I'll watch out for GSF.

Sock puppets?

BB, I just took the time to read this entire thread. Amazing...