Lenox (Maria), welcome to PondBoss.

Wow, another person with command and love of our language. Your writing is beautiful, clear, and to the point.

As you have discovered, we can help you with your pond. First of all, congratulations to you for your move to a rural area. You will undoubtedly see abundant opportunities for your interest in and love of wildlife.

In order to realize the potential of your pond, and that of wildlife habitat, it helps to communicate your goals to us. Goals can be rather general at first, then develop in specific directions as you learn more about local habitat. Examples of general goals might be that you'd like to swim in the pond, you'd like a place to fish and have others fish, you'd like to see ducks and other water birds from your picture window, etc.

As time goes by, you may want a picturesque perch alongside the pond to encourage kingfishers or flycatchers to pose for photographs. You might want to develop some rough, natural looking shoreline to add diversity for the overall benefit of wild critters.

Our member RAH has a Facebook page devoted to midwestern wildlife habitat improvement. Check out his stuff.

I didn't answer any of your questions, but rest assured, there are answers for all of them here on the forum. Often, the advice given is simply observe your pond for a period of time. I made no changes to my place for a full year. I fished it, counted muskrats and waterfowl, ice skated the first winter, and learned quite a bit about what I needed to know but didn't.

Remember, there are no silly nor stupid questions. We try to answer all queries with respect. Enjoy your new home.

Roger