When I lived in California, I used to do a few projects for a guy with some land in Northern California. He was pretty cantancerous and constantly battleing all the different government agencies. He was also a fairly well to do retired goverment official!!
He absolutely refused to deal with them on anything. When he wanted a pond, he put it in. When they came after him for building it without permits, he told them it had always been there, he just cleared off the trees and brush, than had a dozer patch it up.
If you buy some land, I'd seriously consider "finding" an old pond that needs repairing already on your land versus building a new one.
You never know what salamander might, or might not, live on the land. If somebody in some government agency hears about a new dam going in, they have been known to demand a study be done to prove that it DOESN'T exist on your land. Do you know how hard that is to do? I do, it sucks!!!!
Good luck, don't listen to anything I advise that might sound illegal, I'm just telling fish stories.
Eddie
