hey guys i was watching bill dance and he was doing a special on building ponds. he said that there was an organization that was government owned and that they would come out survey the land and tell you how you should build the pond. i thought it was the national resource conservation service? has anyone else seen or heard of this? any info helps thanks ahead guys ps i live near dallas (farmersville)

Yep the NRCS is who I used to help me with my lake... They did such a great job I would encourage any one to use guys like the ones in the Oglethorpe Wilkes County office. Which is who I used here in North Georgia.

I used them. They are good on planning and sometimes have cost sharing plans. The big deals to them, for cost sharing programs, are erosion control and wildlife.

walbok,

I think that you will find some of the NRCS offices are excellent, some not so great. By and large they have a lot of valuable experience. My local office seemed to be great folks but they were "too busy right now" to spend any time with me. I feel they were understaffed.

NRCS administer several government programs. I have not personally participated in any govt. programs, but there are others on Pond Boss that have and can comment.

Here is the link for their web site in Texas:

http://www.tx.nrcs.usda.gov/

Our local NRCS office was invaluable for us in doing our pond. They do both hands-on and classroom pond building, pond management, and dry hydrant seminars that we attended and learned a lot at. One agent loves to do ponds more than anything else and did our overflow pipe, spillway, and other calculations. He showed up all the time during excavation, which was great since it was the first pond for both ourselves and our excavator (no leaks on the dam ever, thanks to Dan Blatter!).

Most are probably good, but some are not. Near the end of the construction of my 3.5 acre pond, I asked NRCS to perform a site survey. They did and said the pond didn't have enough watershed to maintain depth and would never fill up. It filled within a month and has been full for 4 years ever since...except for this summer and its a couple of feet down. If I had listened to them, I wouldn't have a pond today.

the deal is that i really have questions about where the pond should go. we dont want to start it and then it ends up drying each year. also how deep. those are questions that i really need help with. what is the price they charge? how does that work? thanks again everyone.

The service is "free", provided courtesy of the taxpayers of the U.S.A. They normally are interested in controlling erosion problems.

haha! the magic words that i really wanted to here . well thats sounds good though i will call them tomorrow and see what they can do. also thanks again everyone for your great help. i will make sure to stick around and maybe learn something from one of you guys. lol tell next time have a good one

Don't be afraid to uset he NRCS. If worst comes to worst, you can tell them to take a hike and just do it yourself.

On both my ponds, they calculated drainage, surface acres, numbers of fish and advised on what to plant for cover crops. They also hooked me up with local Pheasants Forever chapter who paid for over half the native prairie grass seed.

It was free, and although it took a few years, they eventually found some money for both ponds, 3 years apart. First was a 10 year interest free loan and this latest is 50% cost share...they know where ALL the $$$ is hid away!

so guys i called my local nrcs and they said that they only helped build small ponds. (1/8th) acre or smaller. they did say that i could set up a consultation and that they would send someone to give suggestions on where to put it. atleast there is a start. thanks alot guys.

Does someone know what kind of erosion they are interested in? Like maybe what a pond builder leaves after he is done? We are having big problems with erosion on our pond. maybe I'll just visit their site. Really just wanted to say Howdy to ya'll anyway!!

Heidi Joe

heidi joe,

Howdy to you and welcome to this Forum. It is a great source for info and reading about other folks experiences.

I believe they(NRCS) are primarily interested in erosion caused by natural circumstances, but it wouldn't hurt to ask.

I would suggest you start a new post on the Forum, describe your erosion problem, and ask the experts here for suggestions on how to remedy the situation. You will likely get some good advice.

Again welcome and its always good to see another Texan here to keep things in balance.

walboks,

They should have a list of local pond builders too. Good luck - and let us know how the consultation goes.

Gator

I have finally gotten a local contact here as well.
I aim to call him when I find my land, and see what he says.

BD, ask for references. Call and go see. This is a very expensive business transaction.

Not sure I am following you Dave. Ask for his references from other local pond owners, or ask him for references for realtors??? I was going to have (his name is Freddy, he's a soil technician with the NRCS) Freddy come out to the properties I am looking at, have him tell me what he honestly thinks, before I buy any property.
Sorry but I am not following your post.

Sorry BD, I was following Alligators post about getting a list of pond builders and thought you meant you were going to meet with one of them.

No biggie.
On the related topic I called our office here. I am very happy with what I heard!
It will only cost me in this county 75$ for the permit.

They only want the permit they told me quite honestly, to just see you have a plan, and aren't just digging and messing crap up. The guy will come out to the land, survey it, stake it to how big you're wanting, help design the dam, etc.

I now just need to find the land (wife is where we are held up..she wants to be in certain areas etc), have Freddy come look at it, and then I can decide if I want the property or not, and work on lowering the price of the lot lol

If you deal with the NRCS, and I agree that they are good people, just be prepared to deal with the ACoE as well.

walboknls1,
I used the local Soil & Water Conservation people here. It was a free service & they did everything you stated.
Worked out good for me & didn't have to go through any other agency.

When I posted I found a contact that was for (what I originally thought) was my county. I found out the lot is actually in another county, but in my case this works out EVEN better.

Now for this other county there is no permit what so ever, and they obviously still come out and help out....this is one of those times I don't mind paying taxes.

NRCS guy is walking the property right now...pray for me lol

No dice on that lot.
We are still looking, we've got a little while still based on our plan to start building in Jan, and be in (weather permitting) by april.

well as far as the consultation on my pond they said it would be 7-10 days before they would go out there. i guess ill sit tight for now.

BD,

Just curious, why did you get the thumbs down??

Russ

Russ it could be done for sure, but (and this is where everyone who's been there before will agree) it would cost to much.

The land was in a pretty high elevation and had big rocks on the property SHOWING....this means underneath there will be more than likely HUGE boulders to tackle.

If I could get them removed you might still have the problem of cracking one and it could break the dam, and also without the soil tech (NRCS) drilling holes, you're guessing about the soil make-up.

Yes I could build it, line it, and mess with the boulders but it would break the bank I bet. That particular property also had alot of ridges in it, so where to dam, IF it could be damed properly etc, also weighed the decision to look elsewhere.

Since I am replying I found another location that seems to be alot better. There are bigger houses around the 2 lots available, and I know what the would be neighbors do (profession wise), and they all have .25 acre ponds as it is now. My only confusion(s) is A) how big exactly is 354'x 660'?

I would like to see like an aerial view of something 5 acres compared to something. Each lot out there is 5+ acres, and I think I got an idea since there was another property that was 10 acres and had a fence on it. The lots (1 on the east side of the street and another one across the street w.) There is a doctor on the corner of the N street and where I think the east lot would back up to. Well the doctor built a pond on the SIDE of his property and not behind it, so I think his pond would either cross part of this lot, or if nothing else, hinder where I could put my pond. There is a little creek bed running on this east lot, so understandably this is more than likely why he put the pond there on his side.

If I could "see" how far 660' went back from something, I think it would help me "see" where behind my would-be house, I could put my pond. The idea of being close side by side ponds, doesn't suit me very well, plus the creek is more than likely where he gets most of his water to fill his little pond.

Now the ironic thing is, my wife said 'just pick the west lot then' when we were out there looking at the ava. properties. Well the guy on the corner of this road also has a pond, and where is it??....on his RIGHT side lol. So his pond is towards the other (across the street) lot for sale too.

My thinking is they could build my pond behind my housem but again I am not sure how far 660 goes back from a road. Is 660' FAR from the road? The dirt they would move to excavate the pond could level some other parts of that property to make it more level, so I wouldn't think that would be a problem, I just would hate to cut his pond off from water....but rain should hold a .25 acre pond right?

I am calling another NRCS guy (the 1st guy was for a different county) tomorrow morning, and have him walk the west and east properties to see what his 'vision' is/would be. The lot above the east one I am looking at has been sold, so again I am thinking I need to build behind the house.

It basically goes like this. Off the hwy you have one house on the right corner then the street to these lots and houses way up on the hill already there. Across from the corner house is another house (basically still right there at the turn in for the lots, but he's across the street.) Since both of these existing houses have side ponds and not behind the houses, it leaves me with either lot (across the streets) to cut both of these people off, or go behind each lot with the pond.

I hope my post makes sense. It would be alot easier to see if anyone is not following me. Also for those who are very smart at looking at topo's and aerials, I can post them too.

Thanks

Here is what I am talking about...it is in NO way to scale lol
The black is the hwy., the green are houses, and if need to be factual, there is another green house on the E side way above the X'ed property.

Legend:
Green-house
Blue-pond
Red-lots available
Brown-Fence
Yellow-road(s)

Maybe this will help my previous post.

BD,

The first trip through the explanation was confusing (my disclaimer will be its a bit too early yet) but the pictorial cleared things up. To address you question of the 660' issue, here are some suggestions.

Is there a map of the subdivision which shows the layout of the lots? If so, you could use the scale on the map (in addition to the lots with existing ponds) to lay out the 660'. If no map, do you know the depth of the existing lots and are the corners marked? Third would be to get a tape measure and mark off 660'. Lastly, you could mark off 100'on the road, count the number of paces it takes you to walk the 100' and then pace the property.

Russ

I just wanted to chime-in about the NRCS... My local guy met me out at my property on Friday to take a look around. He was incredibly helpful and gave me some real good ideas on improving my lake as well as enhancing the property for other wildlife. On top of everything, he was just a really nice guy who obviously enjoys his work. Overall, a great experience. I'm looking forward to working with him and learning from him over the coming years!

660' is about the width of this web page!

Not sure how it works elsewhere but here when use cost share with NRCS you are bound to a 10 year lease of sorts. The pond dam,waterway,...etc must be built and maintained to the agreed upon terms.

Mine was a 5 year "committment". The NRCS guy dropped around once a year and looked at things. No big deal.

The main thing was that, if I sold in less than 5 years, I had to pay back the $ they spent.

Interesting thing about the NRCS. Danny Russell of the Montague County, Texas NRCS was scheduled to come to the D/FW PB meeting but couldn't make it. He sent word with Mike Otto that the NRCS is de-emphasing their pond building assistance and the cost sharing. Thats a shame. Some of them are really helpful.

Has anyone dealt with the NRCS office/staff near Oklahoma City? I'm planning a 1/2 acre pond and was given their number today.