Hey All I'm just working on my game plan for this spring's project - to create a natural filtering stream, and I'm looking for input!
Goals: -To cool water to ground water temp 59 degrees where I am located -filter swamp water tannins and sediments -filter out decomposing phosphorous and nitrogens and all the bad stuff that comes out of swamps and cause weeds and algae to flourish -Plant conifers along the way to cool water - eventually place gravel where the cold water comes in for speckled trout spawning.
What I have:
1 x 16 acre swamp which is a main watershed 1 x 36 acre swamp which is at the highest elevation on my property, it fills by precip only, nothing flows into it. I filled my lake of 6 acres and 6-12 feet and the swamp only dropped 12 inches. roughly 200 feet of run elevation of about 30 feet over the 200 foot run. I can adjust flow out of the highest swamp and swamp, I was thinking about running a 4 to 6 inch pipe out of both that I could adjust with a gate valve if needed. Both would be placed about 2 feet under the surface .
Ive added a pic of the run from the swamp to the lake, the highest swamp also runs into run about midway, I can adjust the flow on both swamps. As it is now the water coming into the lake from the highest swamp is full of DO, Iv blocked the flow from the other swamp because it overflows red brown swamp water into my lake in the winter and it is no bueno.
So im wondering the best way to do this, as you can see there are several water holding areas created by small beaver dams about 18 inches high, the whole run is mainly rock and sediment ie I can easily remove the dams and drive equipment the length of the run.
Do I remove the dams all the way down and create a filter bed at the bottom of the run and if so how big should I make it - depth and length etc. Having the pools now I feel just allows the water to warm up in the summer so the time it hits the lake it is as warm as external air.
I have access to all the gravel I need of various size.
Once the filter bed was made I was going to cover with a thin layer of topsoil and plant conifers on top of it.
And, at the bottom I was going to install an 8 to 12 inch pipe from the filter bed into the lake about 3 feet under the surface so the nice cold DO rich water goes in low to an eventual speckled trout spawning area - are area of refuge in the hot summer.
I have all the equipment and materials I need to do this, just looking for your experience.
That sounds like you have an awesome situation on your property. Should be fun to work on improvements over the next several years!
You can filter out sediments from the swamp. However, you cannot "filter" out tannins, nitrogen, or phosphorus.
You need rooted plants or algae to take up (utilize) the nitrogen and phosphorus. (I am not sure about the tannins, but since they are organic compounds, I suspect they would also be taken up by photosynthesizing organisms.)
Since you don't want your nitrogen and phosphorus to grow algae in your lake, then I think rooted plants are your best option for "cleaning" your incoming water.
There is already a culture of people that perform that process, but they do it on a slightly different scale from your proposed project. However, I think you could utilize the same principles.
They do something called "living pools", where they try to create clean, clear water by only using plants to do the work.
(Once you start searching on that topic, I suspect you can find much better articles than my link.)
I think you could utilize plants that do well in your area, that are placed in your created pools and channel ways. Maximal water travel distance would be your goal, so your swamp water has the most "residence time" among your plants before entering your lake.
You must also have a way to cut and clear your plants during the year. The grown vegetation must be removed from the watershed basin to also remove the nitrogen and phosphorus that ultimately came from your swamp.
You also need to be careful to pick the right plants. There are plant threads on Pond Boss that discuss plants that spread rapidly from seeds or even broken pieces of the rooted plants. You do not want those types of plants colonizing to your lake!
I hope the gives you a few ideas. If you ever get to the point of choosing specific plants, start a new thread and some of the experts can give you some good advice.
P.S. Some types of fish prefer moving water (streams). If you did create a good network of pools and riffles, would there be a type of trout you like that would thrive in those waters? I don't know what your minimum daily water throughput would have to be, but I suspect you could at least support some small numbers?
That sounds like you have an awesome situation on your property. Should be fun to work on improvements over the next several years!
You can filter out sediments from the swamp. However, you cannot "filter" out tannins, nitrogen, or phosphorus.
You need rooted plants or algae to take up (utilize) the nitrogen and phosphorus. (I am not sure about the tannins, but since they are organic compounds, I suspect they would also be taken up by photosynthesizing organisms.)
Since you don't want your nitrogen and phosphorus to grow algae in your lake, then I think rooted plants are your best option for "cleaning" your incoming water.
There is already a culture of people that perform that process, but they do it on a slightly different scale from your proposed project. However, I think you could utilize the same principles.
They do something called "living pools", where they try to create clean, clear water by only using plants to do the work.
(Once you start searching on that topic, I suspect you can find much better articles than my link.)
I think you could utilize plants that do well in your area, that are placed in your created pools and channel ways. Maximal water travel distance would be your goal, so your swamp water has the most "residence time" among your plants before entering your lake.
You must also have a way to cut and clear your plants during the year. The grown vegetation must be removed from the watershed basin to also remove the nitrogen and phosphorus that ultimately came from your swamp.
You also need to be careful to pick the right plants. There are plant threads on Pond Boss that discuss plants that spread rapidly from seeds or even broken pieces of the rooted plants. You do not want those types of plants colonizing to your lake!
I hope the gives you a few ideas. If you ever get to the point of choosing specific plants, start a new thread and some of the experts can give you some good advice.
P.S. Some types of fish prefer moving water (streams). If you did create a good network of pools and riffles, would there be a type of trout you like that would thrive in those waters? I don't know what your minimum daily water throughput would have to be, but I suspect you could at least support some small numbers?
Good luck, and have fun!
My thoughts were to improve the stream with the riffles and pools and such and then at the end of the run just before the lake I would create a long gravel bed about 4-6 feet deep and 50 feet long (give or take) and place soil over it and plant cedars and balsam fir which grow quickly. A person around here did something similar and it filters out much of the tannins he says - and he suspects (though not proven) that there is less phosphorous and nitrogen as the trees and plants utilize it.
The whole shoreline of my lake as well as the stream will be planted with balsam fir and cedar. We find that the shading from these trees is cooling and the plants that grow with them aren't very seasonal, more moss like if you know what I mean.
It would be nice to have the BRT spawn up a stream but the otters and mink/fishers will decimate them. My plan is to have a 12 inch pipe in the gravel bed that will flow the water right into the lake at a depth of 2-3 feet below the surface.
Do your tree species up there drop significant amounts of needles or cedar leaves? If so, you probably need to plant them such that you minimize the organic debris that makes it back into your stream or lake.
Yes for sure. Ill be building a couple of white oak cascade aerators out of large slabs I've milled up....and use natural stobes as well. I'll post before and after pics and video.
