Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations 1st pond adventure, Located SE Ks

Just found this site early today and spent the last 5 hours searching and reading-Really neat! I have 80 acres in SE Ks and have been wanting to put in a pond or two for a long time. Having no equipment or experience this whole thing is going to need to be contracted out. So 1st off I would appreciate in hearing from folks with references to people in Se Ks,(Blue Mound area to be more precise) or from folks that do this work themselves in the area. I figure to do planning this year and get some clearing done that I can do in preparation. Then probably next year get one built...of course it could all happen this year-hard to say. I have 3 possible areas with good runoff that are candidates for ponds. The big issue is going to be rocks-got lots and lots and it seems that it is going to take some pretty good equipment to dig in this stuff and then probably clay to seal the hole up (from what I have read so far). So the adventure begins !

Howdy, 2BD.

Welcome aboard. You have the opportunity to plan ahead wrt your pond site, size, construction, and stocking, and avoid at least some of the mistakes the rest of us have made.

Read Brettski's threads on the planning and execution of his pond if you haven't already. He has done a great job of documenting learning while planning, instead of after doing.

Here's a list the threads he's started from the directory. There's a bunch of good ones (some even pond related).
Brettski threads

Hi 2B, welcome to Pond Boss. 80 acres wow, that is a chunk of dirt! Glad you joined in.

2BD,

Welcome to pond boss, you will no doubt find several people smarter than me in here. :p

Joe

Welcome aboard 2BD! As far as those several smart ones that Hey Joe mentioned,well I not one of them.

Thanks for the Welcome! Here is the rest of the story! My buddy inherited 160. He wanted to raise some cash so I bought half-80 acres more or less as they say. I charcaterize the land as "upland" that transitions into woodland/riverbottom. The actual river is less then 100yrds off of my property. He kept the 80 that is all open natural prarie grass with a decent pond. I took the part that transitions. About 30 of my side is now wooded and I fenced it off from the rest to have a place that cattle cannot get into for deer and turkey hunting. The 130 Acres outside the fence pretty much all drain into 3 wooded draws that get deeper as they go towards the property line that borders the neighbor farm that has the river on it. So I have 3 really good valleys with run off that can be considered. My initial hope is that a dam can be put into one of the valleys letting the pond sprawl out into the draws coming from the upland. My big concern is the rocks. Got ledge everywhere in those valleys. I figure if I can hook up with an outfit that is good and experienced with ponds especially with these conditions sometime fairly soon before the spring growth begins it will be alot easier to appraise each valley and pick one to build on. I do not have a set size target or anything like that. I think the geography will dictate that. I plan to keep the cattle out and maybe try to use some of the pond water to keep foodplots going in the summer. So thats the "Dream" right now. The more I have read the more I know this is not going to be an easy one!

Welcome 2BD to the Pond Boss Forum. Brettski's thread is a great place to start. I would also suggest that you are in the perfect position to benefit from Bob's new book on building the perfect pond. It takes you through the whole process. The book is just out (in about a mth.). You can call the PB office and order one. They are not expensive.

2BD
You might want to give O'toole Construction a call.
620-724-8536 Jim's a kansas land improvement contractor member, nice guy. They are in Girard.

2BD
Even closer to you are a couple more contractors:
Frank Noel LaCyne 913-757-2058 Not sure if he does larger projects, worked with him on a job some time ago.
Roger Adams Garnett, no number handy, should be in phone book. He does some pretty fair sized projects, he's hauled my dozer for me before i got a lowboy.