I am going out of my mind right now trying to think of how many ways I can possibly tell you in some convincing way to not involve them. If you try to follow the rules, you will not have a pond. Period. (Provable agrictlture excepted, and that's hard to do anymore, too.)
If you trust your NRCS agent, let them help you as much as they will. My NRCS agent likes the Corps about as much as I do, but couldn't help me but so much without involving them. So we shook hands and he wished me luck. I spoke with him a few weeks ago and we discussed how it is going. He wished me more luck.
At the World PondBoss Meeting held last month outside of Atlanta, no one there had ever had a problem with the "Just do it" method of pond construction. I was even more impressed that no one at the meeting even knew of anyone that had a problem. Considering the number of ponds that covers, well, you get it.
I asked my NRCS agent if he knew of anyone that had had a problem after the fact. He knew of two. Both were over 100 acres, and both affected the downstream owners of the creek without their permission. (Or knowledge I heard.)
Just remember, going to the Corps is a one-way ticket. You can't take it back.
