Pond Boss Forums POND CONSTRUCTION Selecting a site When Buying a Property?

One of the biggest priorities in my future property search is the ability of the property to have a location to build a 3-5 acre pond.

As a buyer, what methods can you use to make sure the land you are purchasing has a site for such pond? Would that be something you would have to work out with a private consulting firm or government agency? As in, you find a property you are interested in and then you have the private or government consultant come out to the location and give their assessment as to the feasibility of building said pond on that property.

If this isn't something a government agency could assist with, what would the cost be of a private firm assisting you with this?

Thank you in advance for any information... With real estate values dropping, I am getting more serious about finally buying a piece of land big enough to support a 3-5 acre pond.

I don't know what agencies can help you but I would check out these two sites. The first will show you how big the watershed is and the second will show you the soil types.

http://acme.com/planimeter/

http://websoilsurvey.nrcs.usda.gov/app/WebSoilSurvey.aspx

did you see this thread?
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In my neck of the woods, recreational property prices have been holding fairly well. I have not noted the exponential price increases that were normal a year or two ago, but I'm not seeing decreases on the decent stuff.

Chris, I have both of those links saved in my bookmarks. I love Google Maps and Google Earth. I am pretty confident that the area I am looking at will not have much issues in holding water. There are MANY ponds from 1/3 to 5 acres plus in the general area.

Brettski, I just checked that thread out. You had an excellent post on it! I have a Realtor who is sending me updates each time a property within my estimated price range and requirements comes up or changes in price. Right now there are about 30 properties for sale. They seem to just continue to go down in price and some have been sitting on the market for close to a year... I am hoping to buy the land at the lower real estate prices of today then hold onto it and build on it in a few years when hopefully the real estate market recovers so I can sell my current home without a complete loss! The only issue I have found it finding a real estate agent who understands why I am buying the property and the value of certain attributes over others. Fortunately, I have a good bit of knowledge on timber value so I know what value trees will or won't add to a property and right now timber values are WAY down as compared to a few years ago...

The other option I have looked at is building a "learning pond" on our hunting property in PA. My father already owns the land so I wouldn't be needing to purchase land, just build the pond... I could use the process of building a smaller pond there as a learning process for the future plans of building a larger pond here in VA where I live and work.

The buzz phrase is "pocket listing". They are difficult to come by, one step beyond the difficulty of finding the guy that has it.
We searched for 4 years. For a couple of those years, we spent at least 2 - 3 weekends per month traveling up to 4 hours to walk another 20 or 30 or 40 ac parcel. Snow, rain, 2 feet of wet clay in a farm field. It was a real character builder. I loved it! I doubt that I will ever forget the first time I saw the pondsite basin of the LNP property that we ultimately purchased. It was that very moment that all those hundreds of acres we trudged paid out big. It is amazing the amount of strength and focus you generate when you can taste, smell, and feel the right parcel when you find it. It's addictive.

Topo map, soil analysis and assure yourself that nobody can cut you on the runoff.

My part of VA gets a good amount of rainfall so I am pretty confident that I can get a 3-5 acre pond without much issue. I am looking for a piece of land between 20 and 35 acres, at least my estimated price range indicates that is what I can afford. I guess I am just gonna have to start looking at these properties in person... My biggest concern is finding someone with expert knowledge to say yes, you can build a 3-5 acre pond on this property. Go ahead and drop all that money on it...

It goes in steps.
The first step is locating the correct topography and watershed. This is best accomplished with my topo/aerial review and actually walking the parcel.
Step 2 is determining the soils composition. This was hugely served by the NRCS div of that specific county when I was looking. NRCS participation varies from county to county, state to state. They will have the soils types and compositions for the parcel and be able to tell you if you have a chance for a pond. I actually had offices drawing up the aerial pondsite proposal of a parcel just from a couple of phone calls I made. In my case, they were invaluable.
I also used the DNR well drilling records for water wells in the immediate area to determine the soils encountered and at what depth. You also need to scan the area (using aerials) to see if any other ponds exist. This is a good sign.
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At this point, tho, your best decision will be to pick up a copy of Lusk's newest publication: Perfect Pond; want one? It was written exactly for new pond dreamers looking for direction. Period.

In addition to all of the "technical" stuff, Brettski said a mouthful when he said he looked for quite a while to find the right place. Don't rush into it.

You are going about this in the proper way. Ask before you buy.
I work with people on both sides of the sale.
The question is always asked. How did you find this place?
Most of the time the answer is. Lots of time looking and then it just appeared.

Like the boys have said Get a topo map that is th best and cheapest way to start.
Otto

My $0.02 worth:

1) Look for other ponds in the area.

2) Remember those beautiful aerial/satellite photography sites and look over possible areas on-line.

Good advice on this thread.

I'd add a few other things that I feel are important but not really pond-related.

1. When you do find a piece of property you're interested in, talk to the neighbors. It will give you a feel for the area and how you might (or might not) get along with everyone.
Some folks are just hard to get along with.

2. Think about ease of access to the property, ingress and egress in bad weather (floods, winter, etc.).

Yeah, I love Google Earth and Google Planimeter... You catch switch back and forth between Satellite Photos, Topomaps and regular street maps. They are great for scouting hunting properties as well!

I am encouraged by the high number of farm ponds in the area I am looking to buy. Seems like almost every property has one! So I guess that is a good sign... I am looking to build at least a 3 acre pond because in my experience that seems to be the cut off line for when you can have a little more diversity in your fish population without as much worry of biomass crowding.

I've been looking at properties for about 2 years now. So patience is not going to be an issue. Money might be, but not patience! HAHA Looks like I will have to get in tough with the local NRCS and see how helpful they are willing to be and go from there... Thanks for all the ideas guys!

Yeah Dave, the neighbors count. About 5 years ago, I was looking around for some spec land to whip in shape, dig a water hole and flip for a profit. I heard about one place and started down the road toward it. When I drove by the nearest neighbor to the place, it looked like a scene out of Deliverance. I didn't even look the place.

JHAP will tell you, that sounds exactly like the drive into my place..........having deliverance man on the mountain above me helps keep the rif raf out

I don't know, I kinda like the sound of banjos in the distance!

Not from that crowd. Nope, no way.

I hope you all dont mind my asking a question in someone elses thread.

Anyway I looked over the acme/google planimeter site and I am confused. How exactly does this show me how big a watershed in any given area is? When I put points on it, at the bottom I see a bunch of different numbers that make no sense to me save one, where it shows the calculated acreage.

for example..
3.582e+4 m� / 3.582 hectares / 0.03582 km� / 3.856e+5 ft� / 8.852 acres / 0.01383 mile�

Am I missing something?Where is the information about a watershed?

Welcome HPD.

The only thing that the planimeter shows you is the area. What other info are you looking for?

Hi Chris

Well I guess Im just confused. I thought you were saying from your second post in this thread that that site would help determine the size of a watershed, hence my confusion because I couldnt figure out how to do that.

Does that make sense?

Here is a picture of my property. The black line is the border of the watershed.



To figure out the size of your watershed place points on the ends of where a dam would be. Then place other points around the area uphill. On a topo map the bottom of the V's will point uphill. Look above point A on my picture to get an idea of what the V's look like.

Chris
Did the topo map come from google.

Quick question. I am familiar with topo maps for the purpose of land navigation but I am trying with trial and error to make the skill applicable towards reconing a pond.

Looking at Chris' property it appears there is a draw, the v's you mentioned, in the middle. Is it ideal to have a draw in the property? I have read of people damming up a valley to create a pond so I guess my main question is which is the preferred method? The draws that I have busted thru here in WA are thick I mean thick with brush so I guess that should weigh into the equation, but then again most valleys are usually heavily wooded in my area.

Sorry for being a total newb and asking retard questions but I really don't want to leave anything up to fate. I want to go into this knowing whats going on so I am not taken as a fool when the time comes to get the ball rolling. Thanks again

If you have a draw it will reduce the amount of digging which will make it cheaper to build.

Here in Texas an ideal site would be a draw with at least 12 feet of depth without having to dig. The only dirt you would have to move would be enough for the dam and any contouring that you wanted.

RB Blackshear- Im going to steal one of ewest's sayings on this one....It Depends; I would think that if you had a valley located on the property that it would be more cost effective. I think it just depends on the landscape in which your in and the soil composition that is available.

My grandfather always told me; "A dumb question is easier to fix than a dumb mistake."