Thanks, ewest. I have read some of this material but had not seen the summary of topic links - that is very helpful.
Thank you also for the welcome, Brettski. You have created some great topics that are very helpful to someone starting out like me. It's a privilege to have your input. I grew up in flat eastern Indiana, so I can imagine why topo lines are exciting to someone in Illinois.
The draw in the west is also my preference for a site if it will work. I'm encouraged that you suggested that location from the topo! The spring starts fairly high up the draw (we haven't had the property long so my positioning is not very precise yet). The draw has a varying width as you follow the spring down, so I'm hoping that a dam in one of the narrower spots would be a cost-effective position. Because of the spring meandering through the draw the land is less useful for other purposes, so building a lake there would have less effect on other uses of the property.
You are right, the dotted line is the remains of an old country one-lane road and there are indications of a couple of old homesites on those high spots. I would love to be able to build somewhere in the middle of the property and have a view over a lake. Some of my children may eventually want to build here too, and a lake would be a great focal point for the home sites.
I don't know much about the track record of NRCS in our area. One challenge is that the property is fairly wooded (mainly mixed hardwoods) so I don't know how well someone can envision elevations and possible shorelines if you don't have a clear view. I guess I'll just listen and try to learn. I'll post the results/recommendations here to get some feedback.
Thanks again.
