As I was bush hogging, finish mowing, and weed whacking around the pond this afternoon, I kept thinking about this thread. As I recall from the survey that Bob Lusk published in Pond Boss a while back, quite a few of us have ponds of one acre or less. Mine is about 0.7 acres, with about 650-700 feet of shoreline.
After bush hogging and finish mowing, final cleanup with my weed whacker took less than 20 minutes this afternoon. That included the entire shore line, bushes around the pond, and the three "mugger's benches" I keep near the pond to help our city friends feel like they are in a familiar environment.
My bushhog extends about 6 inches on each side of my tractor. That gets me pretty close to the edges, but I also want places for the little pond critters like frogs, snakes, turtles, grasshoppers, crickets, etc., where they can hide from the fish and the birds.
One side of my pond is mowed down to the water's edge. Two sides have an intermittent 1-foot buffer that is clipped at about a 12-inch height. In some places, this intermittent buffer is trimmed down to the water, like where we launch the canoe and kayak, and where the little kids can fish. The fourth side has a two to three foot wild buffer that is trimmed at about an 18 inch height. This side has about a 12-15 foot wide area that is clear, but it adjoins a mature hardwood forest that is home to nearly every feathered and furry critter that calls WV home. It is also the side where I annually renew about 1/3 of the structure made of hardwood and softwood tree tops. It is amazing to see the diversity of wildlife and fish that depend on this area.
Here are a few pictures from about a month ago.
This photo shows the frog buffer on the left. It shows the "wild" area across the top and to the left.
This is the same area as above, but looking the other direction. I keep a big pasture buffer above the pond. During the spring and early summer it is home to lots of critters, from baby hawks and turkeys, to fawns and baby ground hogs. I bush hog this area twice a year -- once in mid August when the babies are on their own, and once in early spring before things start to green up. At the far end is a miniature "wetland." It stays very wet about 8-9 months out of the year. Although small, it is the birthing center and nursery for an incredible number of critters. We also keep a lot of brush piles all over our property to keep the critters safe while raising families.
This is the "wild side" of the pond. It is where I dump tree tops. I pull about 1/3 of them out each year, but replace them with fresh structure.
Good trimmin'
Ken
P.S. I grew up with sickle bar mowers. Never again. Too much maintenance, too dangerous, and too darn difficult to mount onto the tractor.
