Friends,

I've been following this board for several months as I gear up for a major renovation/expansion project at my farm. The plan is to raise (and repair) the dam on my existing 2 acre lake to expand it and to submerge some bank erosion caused by the previous owner's cattle. We also plan to build a second, smaller pond upstream from the first and a constructed wetland even higher up the valley to divert a water source toward the two lakes. Should be fun!

I have many questions but one comes to the top of the list: when I renovate the existing lake, should I remove some of the sediment that has been accumulating at the bottom for the the past 25 years or so? I was thinking that when we lower the pond to work on the dam we could remove a foot or two (or more) of muck from the end of the pond furthest from the dam. I could spread the muck on a nearby ridge and create a food plot there in a year or so when it dries out.

Does that make sense? Or should I leave well enough alone? The pond appears to hold water well and I wouldn't want to do anything that would create new problems. On the other hand I know there is a lot of sediment in the pond which might create problems of another sort down the road. Who has an opinion?

Thanks!