Pond Boss Forums POND CONSTRUCTION Selecting a site Problem with NRCS

I'm in the process of having a dam constructed
across a creek that traverses my property, and
I have concern about the large watershed that
feeds the creek. I applied for cost share under
EQIP for the last 3 years, but finally decided
to proceed without gov't finacial help. NRCS
has viewed the project area a number of times
with promises of help in the design of the project (should I proceed on my own). However,
they never provided me with any help at all,
even after repeated requests. Finally, they
told me they'd come out and stake off the dam
after area clearing was completed. Sill, no
specs were provided.
The dozer people, who have worked with NRCS on
gov't projects in the past, came out last week
and cleared the area. ( I have waited 5 months
for them because they are the best in the area).
However, NRCS has informed them at this late date that they will not assist in the project
because of the extensive watershed for the area.
After almost 3 years of familiarity with the
project and no red flags, I get this late breaking news (and second hand at that).
After such long waiting on the dozer people,
and the expense already incurred,
I decided to proceed on my own. We spent most
of yesterday re-shooting the elevatons back
to a county road (1600' upstream) and staking
out the dam. The dam will be about 600' long
over the creek area where it narrows to about
45' with 3:1 slopes, 12' crown, 4' freeboard,
and dual emergency OV areas 1' above a 12"
siphon pipe. The soil has a high concentration
of clay with some silting in the creek bank area.
The creek bed areas have some limestone areas
but probably will not be reached at the dam area.
I will use rip rap rock in the OV areas with good drainage on both sides of the dam.
Even though the drainage area for this creek is
large, I've yet to see much water flow in it,
even after heavy rains. See photo at link below.
I contacted NRCS this morning, and was informed
that the project was feasible, but, they'd
have to design it before they could participate
in any way. I understand this, but do not understad their
unprofessional and irresponsible behavior. Does anyone have similar experience
with such a creek dam project ? Sorry this was
long, but I'm overly disturbed about this
situation. Note, the dam area will be in the
upper area of the photo.

I'm located in NE Texas.
Not sure of the eventual lake size but it will
extend about 1600' from the county road. The
creek has a serpentine shape, so the lake
should be around 2000' long. The dam work has progressed well and is nearing completion.
See below

I don't have the final tally on cost, but the
dozer people get $85/hr for each machine.
They usually charge by the cubic yard ($1.00) and
use NRCS's total yardage estimates, but since
we could not get NRCS cooperation, the hour
rate was used. The dam pipe cost $1000 plus
installation. I have not even estimated lake size, but it will not be very large. The dam
area should have 3 to 4 acres of water and the
creek body may contain another 4 or so acres.
The size could easily have been tripled had the
county road constraint not been an issue.

Great pictures, congratulations! Tell us what you plan to do with bottom structure. Making ridges, channels, islands etc. at this stage is sure a lot easier than tires, trees in concrete etc. later on.