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Joined: Aug 2010
Posts: 5
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Joined: Aug 2010
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Hello All!

I feel that I just stumbled across a gold mine. I have seen the magazine but subscribing is on my personal "to do" list and not on the "honey do" list. Well, if your're married you probably get the picture.

For instance, we have a ten acre, narrow (300' x 1800'), east to west spread and our house sits on a 300' X 300' cleared plot at the top or east end of the lot (upstate NY). We bought the forested lot in 2002 and the first tool I invested in was a Husky chain saw followed by I good 300' engineers tape. Thru the grace of the Almighty, I still have all my appendages, toes and fingers but my hearing isn't as good as it once was especially when my wife is saying something to me.

I just knew that I needed a compact tractor/loader or skidsteer but ran into the "to do list" priorities conumdrum. Since then, I've herniated a lower and upper (cervical) disc and have developed chronic lyme disease (as an aside, it dosen't go away. Just goes dormant like malaria. Huge fight in the medical field on how to diagnose and treat it which is all about, you guessed it, money). As for the tractor my wife thinks I just want another toy and, besides, she tells me that I have a lot more healthy discs to go!

My kids are 11 and 9 and I am lucky enough to have figured out that my highest priority is being with them as I'm pushing 55. So we do various outside projects, tree house w/ small wood stove that secretly doubles as a tree stand overlooking our sloped wooded bottom land with mucho deer trails, zip line, etc.

We have a seasonal spring (9-10) months that drains down into the woods and goes underground. A second spring surfaces a little further down and then it goes underground finally making its way to a narrow but long wetland that goes south to north. Our last project was a raised serpentine foot bridge made out of free hardwood pallets set on raised hardwood rails with spaced footings of hardwood cordage. It is still high and dry, great for watching the different critter and gives us access to the rest of our property that continues as a hardwood forest.

Okay, here's my idea. Well, before the wetland on relatively level ground sits an area that I always felt would make a good but small (40'diameter)vernal pond site if I could "capture" the water from the two springs along with a sizable run0off from our watershed. Well, the shallow vernal pond idea gave way to a possible small swimming hole as I felt I could always get some water and spillway it to the wetland. I also came across a good and thick liner that is as large as the pond site. My idea is to build a small waterfall fed by underground piping from the spring areas about 200' feet up hill from the pond site. That way I would always have a trickle of water falling in to the pond to keep away skeeters and oxegenate the pond. I don't care for flora, fauna or fish, just something nice for the kids with perhaps a pea gravel bottom over laying the liner. The site is in the forest so it won't get much sunlight that would cause growth, etc. Of course it would be nicely landscaped with indigenous rocks and ferms and my idea is to make it as natural-looking as possible.

Now, after that rambling introduction, I would appreciate any advice on: (1) capturing and sending the "clean" spring water to the site and (2)capturing as much run off water from our watershed to send also. I envision a direct pipe underground from the spring but also want to feed any and all other water via angled and lateral branches of trenches or UG piping that would feed the main line. What I need is advice on the details, type pipe (perforated or solid) fabric, stone under/around the pipe and whether I'll need some type of sand, etc. filter before the H2O reaches the pond.

I'm sure that I could piece all of your valuable insight from the archives but it's August and I'm "burning daylight" and can't afford the time right now. So, any ideas?

Thanks so much and I am immediately adding this site to my favorite list.

Steve



Edited by MyKidsDad (Yesterday at 10:33 AM)
Edit Reason: wanted "questions" in subject line

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#229488 - Yesterday at 11:36 AM Re: Greetings and Questions From a Neubie [Re: MyKidsDad]
jeffhasapond
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Registered: 07/28/06
Posts: 6381
Loc: Pond in No CA, Me in So CA Hello Steve and welcome to Pond Boss. Hang on for some expert opinions.
_________________________
JHAP
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"My mind is a raging torrent, flooded with rivulets of thought cascading into a waterfall of creative alternatives."
...Hedley Lamarr (that's Hedley not Hedy)

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#229507 - Yesterday at 12:48 PM Re: Greetings and Questions From a Neubie [Re: jeffhasapond]
ewest
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Registered: 03/08/05
Posts: 10594
Loc: Miss. An aerial/topo of the place would help. Do the springs freeze in winter?
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#229615 - 52 minutes 50 seconds ago Re: Greetings and Questions From a Neubie [Re: ewest]
MyKidsDad


Registered: 08/03/10
Posts: 2
Loc: New York Sate No they don't freeze they actually put out a greater flow.

The topo is relatively simple but I don't know how to scan and unload.

Topo flat 300'x300' house site w/slight grade towards the uniform slope 1:3 (I had to make a switch-back trail for my tractor). This levels out and becomes a nice wetland which we cross with my rasied and connect pallets to access the rest ofthe harwood uphill stand.

The water runs in two places. E to W on our house site then underground (eventually shale). A second spring emerges about half way down the hill and then again goes underground.

My small pond (originally to be a vernal pond)site (40' radius)is set at the end of the fall of the hill and is "in-line" with the two springs and is about 200' slightly uphill from the wetland. I would build my spillway in that direction.

Now, I believe that I can sustain a pond if I can get H20 from the springs (before they go underground) by trenching and installing pipe. To add to the flow there is a sizable watershed that runs downhill in various spots from my and my neighbors lots using laterals I could probaly pick up a lot of this runoff and connect to main trunk. What I need is help on the details:

1) (I once was a surveyor and learned quickly to lay pipe upslope to keep your work site dry). Sould my main trunk be perforfated to pick up addn'l flow between the last spring and pond? Type, size of pipe? Should it be lined with plastic in the trench below the pipe, should I use filter fabric over top before I back fill the trench?

2) Most important, what do I do when I "meet" the spring with my trenching? Do I go deeper to gain more water? Do I create a small detention area at the spring site with sand filter rocks, etc. before I place my last pipe?

3) How should I build my diagonal laterals (one on each side) to catch runoff? (same questions as above).

This is probably small [potatos) compared with most of your ponds but the kids will enjoy it and it should add to our land value. Again, it will be shaded in a hardwood forest and I plan on using indigenous rocks and ferns to make it look as natual as possible, Pea stone or sand for the bottom? Depth? I want to discourage any underwater growth and I don't want stagnancy.

I probably don't have to tell you that we are on a shoestring budget (like alot of folks) and I want to do this myself (with my friend's Kubota).

Thanks again.

- Steve

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Steve Schassler
Joined: Dec 2008
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Great post Steve! And love your handle. wink

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Thanks Omaha. I was lucky enough to figure out early that a lot of quality and fun time with Dad will mean more to my two girls than anything money could buy.

So, any ideas on how to convey water from my springs (and laterals for run-off) to my pond? It's all down hill and I want to "capture" as much H2O as possible and keep it clear when it trickles into the pond off my home-made, natural-looking as possible, small waterfall of flat fieldstone from a nearby, ancient stone wall. The end of pipe will be hidden in the structure and I hope to find a grooved, good size flat stone on which to lay the hidden pipe as a cap stone for the water fall. Falling water should add to O2 content and help keep the mosquitos at bay.

Thanks again - Steve


Steve Schassler

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