Pond Boss Forums POND CONSTRUCTION Selecting a site finding government funding

I have just purchased some land in Northern California and want to add a pond to it. Can anyone give some advice on getting government funding for the cost of installing a private pond?

Hello David you might try your local fire department in some cases where there is not a good supply of available water for fighting fires they will go to all the right places to get you funded.They sometimes are able to pick up all the cost and like other gov. agencies you don't have to give the public the right to fish for a certain amount of years they just want to have access to the water to fight fires.Just a way you might check into hope it helps. DOC

I remember reading in the Winter? edition of PB about the new Farm Bill and several different programs that are being offered under it for wildlife habitat renual. There are several different programs but the ones I remember the most about were WRP-Wetland Reserve Program, WHIP-Wildlife Habitat Incentives Program, and EQIP-Environmental Quality Incentives Program. Each of these programs have different guidelines to meet different goals. I have not heard of anyone I know taking advantage of them yet but would love to see them really help private pond owners. I would contact your local USDA-NRCS office about any information they have and how you can take advantage of it.

Try the government funding route but don't expect much financial help if you are creating anything deeper than a wetlands. We all would be interested in your results; keep us posted on your progress. Thanks.

Sorry it took me a while to reply to you guys. Thanks for the suggestions. I'll keep you posted.

I'm looking at digging a pond on my property, so I decided to contact the NRCS to see if WRP or WHIP could help. I just got off the phone with the NRCS here in Ft. Wayne,IN where I was told they do not have any programs for "deep" bodies of water. They may have been able to help if I wanted to keep the depth less than 2 feet (classified as wetlands).

Thanks for the excellent forum, keep up the good posts and thank you for the education.