Thanks, gentlemen. That all sounds like good advice.
On the Corps permit, the soil guy said you have to have a permit before you can even plan a dam. He indicated that everyone has to have the Corps approval that the site is not a wetlands. But then he said that I shouldn't have any problem since the Corps doesn't want to come look at property. He said that all they will do is take my permit application fee (a couple of hundred dollars?), look at a topo map, see that there is not a blue line on the topo, and then approve it.
I didn't get the same sense of eagerness to help from the soil guy as from the first meeting with the NRCS lady, and she kind of hung in the background this time and deferred to him. I'm not sure how the politics work in that office. They were cordial but basically said they were done unless I had a Corps permit.
I did ask them for a list of recommended contractors and asked for their personal opinion, but all they would say was that anyone on their list was good.
I'll try to get some names of contractors to contact. I'm not sure that much can happen during the holidays but I'll post back when I have an update. Thanks again and I hope you all have a blessed Christmas season.
