Heres my 2 cents. I think the most cost and time efficient means of clearing the basin is to have a dozer push out the trees root ball and all attached. Push them into a pile out of the way so you can work on burning them while they work on the pond. That will get most of the roots out of the soil so they do not end up in the dam.

You CAN get green wood to burn if you get it going with diesel fuel and a couple round "black oaks". The big stumps will likely not burn but they can be pushed back into the pond for habitat. Perhaps if you have too many smaller stumps left they can be ground up later.

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