We built our pond last summer 2006 and the Tama county IA NRCS folks were just wonderful. I know a lot of people who could have helped me through it without the NRCS, but since we were removing CRP land to build the pond I was concerned about following all the rules.
If that's not a concern, I think just having experienced pond people and PondBoss around to help - that's all you need!
