We are going to have 13,000 cubic yards of dirt to spread out on our acreage. It's a lot cheaper to spread out on-site versus haul off-site given that the local market for fill dirt in our area is not strong. For those of you who have spread out dirt on site, what did you do with it? Shooting range backstop? Man-made hill? I'm in central Indiana and it's very flat topography so i'm a bit worried a hill might look tacky.
I too am in central Indiana. I used the spoil from my last pond to build a knoll and also a shooting-range backstop. Having a little topography can add interest to a flat site. We plan to plant the knoll with prairie plants. If you can deer hunt on your property, a hill can do double-duty as a deer stand, and also give the deer a place to stay out of sight in some cases. If you build a knoll, think about how it will look from the house when plants are blooming on it.
Bury a shipping container or two.
Instant tornado shelter.
Build a motocross track.
Build several shooting bays 180 degrees.
When I renovated my existing pond I had some of it dumped in a nearby field on the West end of the pond... I had some piled up on the opposite East end of the pond too. What I did:
West End: Rented a bobcat track unit and spent hours spreading it out in the field. Farmer them tilled it into the field and planted soy beans this year... they are growing well. When I had the bobcat I made a back stop for shooting and also put a few piles of dirt scattered about the property so that I had fill dirt in various locations for future use.
East End: I didn't do much of anything.. It's now a giant mound of dirt with weeds / grass grown over it. My buddies and I have fun riding atv's on it.. but I like the mound because it makes my pond more private. I have considered the storage container / cabin idea a few times. One thought was to carve out a channel into the mound and set a container to span the gap. This way there would be a spot to hang out underneath the container using the container as a roof... maybe one day..
If you have room on the backside of the dam making the back dam slope a gentle grade is always nice when it comes to mowing the dam.
If you ever intend on putting a shed on site, a building pad would be nice.
I am building up an area with my dirt for a T box in order to hit golf balls out into my pasture. I will also use some dirt in the pasture to build up and make several greens to hit balls to. So essentially making a private golf range
What snrub said.
13,000 yards is a LOT of soil to move. You could build your own burial pyramid 100 feet tall and 100 feet on each side!
I would go the Motorcross route, or simply add interest to otherwise flat land, like a series of snaking hills and knolls for interest.
Make sure to set the topsoil aside, and at the end spread that over the top of your features so plants and trees have something other than subsoil to work with.
In my case the answer to that question was easy-housepad! After the huge flood of '16, my land, which had never flooded previously, got 5 feet of water over it for several days! I used the 12-15k cy of dirt to build a 100'x 100' compacted house pad which now rises 7 feet above the existing ground. No more flood worries for me, I hope!
I have found that optimizing the use of spoil behind the dam is rare. For my first pond, I asked the experienced builder to put all the extra excavated dirt behind the dam. He said it would not fit, and later said he was wrong so he moved it twice to get it there (honest guy). For my second pond, I asked the same but got a very steep back on the dam and piles of dirt spread all around the pond (first pond builder had retired and that's what I got the second time around). I built my 3rd pond myself and still did not put as much dirt behind the dam as I should have. I think the amount that will go behind a dam to make a gentle slope is deceiving. Hopefully, any more ponds that I build will use the spoil better behind the dam. It not only makes for a gentle slope that looks good, but also adds strength to the dam.
It amazes me that folks let dirt movers just do what they want. It's not the dirt mover's land. If they don't put the spoil where the owner clearly instructs them to they should not get paid until they do so.
Many pond dams around here are built so steep they are un-mowable, so they get eroded and then grown up with brush.
Sometimes the effort is just not worth it. Life is not as just as it should be. I know from taking the high road and getting burned.
Rah, if ya take the high road once too often, you will be silhouetted and probably picked off.
Redonthehead, if ya figure out how ta build that burial pyrmid I'll hook ya up with many scientist that have been tryin ta figure out how the Egyptians did there's. You'll be instantly rich and can start hittin the lecture circuits.
PS I get 10%
Bob-O - Ain't that the truth!