Hi everyone! Its been 5 months since I first posted this subject, so I thought I'd give you an update.

First, thankyou for all of the imput, I value all of your(s) opinions.

Our rainfall exceeded 52" last year, I posted 36", however, that was in L.A. I later found out the 52" was recorded 1/2 mile from our construction site, (in the local mountians).

Just recently, the pond, (there is an existing dam, it's a 140 feet downstream and has been there for 20 years), has dried up. I am currently in there re-arranging the shoreline and clearing it out. I don't want to go more than 4-5 feet deep. This existing bridge/dam is now repaired, as we use that for access to our property.

I am wanting to build another, (new), dam upstream. A new dam plus the existing dam, will make two shallow ponds and give it a tiered effect. In fact, I think there are a couple of places where this can be repeated along this seasonal creek!

Back to the subject, The existing dam had to be repaired first, as this is our access. You're gonna love this...
My nieghbor, who has a great big heart, saw that the dam was overflowing over the top and across the dirt road. This was on account of the pond not being maintained the spillway culvert was plugged up and about 3 feet underwater. I come back from vacation to find a ravine 8' wide and 6 feet deep cut across our road, and another smaller one. My neighbor says, " the water was comming across the road, so I dug 2 little ditches for it to drain off in".

So with that fixed, and the water receeding, I was able to get down in there with my dozer and found that the overflow pipe was not plugged! Rather was blocked off by a big piece of a wood beam across the front of it. I pulled it out by hand, I asked my neighbor about this piece of beam, he said that he had put it there so the water would get higher! (He is a nice guy!)

Now the water has dried up except the very bottom area, I DON'T want to get stuck in the mud again, that happend too, Had to wait 4 weeks with that!

The mucking out and re-modeling the shore line will bring me a better understanding of just where to place the new dam. The original spot is still a good place, but I am going to dig around a bit more.

Another neighbor has a cashe of about 200 truck and tractor tires that are an eyesore, I was thinking about incorporating these into the new structure....any thoughts on this Idea?

Again, thanks for your opinions....sl