Pond Boss Forums POND CONSTRUCTION Creating habitat I built my first "Mongo Pond"

Mongo (aka Dave Sefton) gave a great presentation at the PB Convention about creating wildlife habitat. Part of his presentation was about putting in small ponds for the wildlife to enjoy.

Right then and there, I decided I was going to go home and start rearranging some mud. We've got a lot of "weepy" areas on our land that should make good small ponds.

So, yesterday afternoon, I took my iddy-biddy little tractor into one of the wet spots in my woodland. I dug and pushed mud for about two hours. It was really wet and muddy, even though we haven't had any precipitation since our 8-inch snowfall three weeks ago.

The water was still pretty muddy this afternoon, but in just 24 hours, the hole is almost half full. Two sides are about 15 feet long, and the third side is about 25 feet long. It will be about 3-1/2 feet deep when it finishes filling. I stuck a piece of 10-inch PVC pipe in the "dam" to help it drain. If it looks like it needs a spillway, I'll add one with a few loads of rocks. I've never seen gushing water in this area after heavy rains, but this spot stays pretty wet about 9-10 months out of the year.

I don't think I'll dig anymore until August or September when the ground is a little more solid.

Now I just need the frogs and toads, and other little critters to find it.

Great job, vernal ponds are critically needed. I build them in the fall when the soil is drier with a spade.

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Here is one that is real narrow, but is 8 foot deep and 80 ft long(I plan to build a real pond in the future in that location) I have two other little pools and plan to build alot more.

On my property there is a little pond that is maybe a 1000 square feet and not more than 3 feet deep. It was made when the loggers built a road across a ditch and is only 3 years old. I always thought that there was nothing in it. This past weekend I saw many tadpoles and crayfish. I couldnt believe that there were crayfish in there. It is at least half a mile from any other body of water that holds water year round.We have a few other spots that could have small ponds and wouldnt be to difficult to build.