2.5 Acre Pond Gone!!! Ideas, tale, and restoral thread

[Stressless]

Really happy with the bald cypress planted 1 year ago Apr.
Many are in this condition, prolly half and the pond is 18" lower than the overflow so these dint get real wet feet. Plan to stick another 10 clumps in the fall or next spring. They make great structure and are beautiful.

Cypress opening up last Sep when I cleared the trees from shading them out.

 

[Stressless]

BLUF: The pond was 18" below overflow with a seep, it had stabilized at that level for about a year, it has gone a few inches lower over the summer so I decided to chase One Gremlin. One time.

The pond project has gone very well from what I actually expected. There is one seep that has been located and is exactly where Mose got the dozer struck and messed up the formation underground in Aug '22. To compound the issue/problem it appears they buried a couple trees under the road when I wasn't on site for that one part of the work once they winched his dozer out.





A couple weeks ago on 23 Aug we got +2" of rain and I was on site and checked for the seep(s) along the entire edge of the pond. Only one was found as noted - right where the dozer went in.







This is where I'd like folks advise/constructive additions to the process as I have only plugged one seep and that was documented above in this thread.

1. Start buy digging a 12' long trench, parallel to the pond, at the base of the hill that wasn't disturbed by the original excavation in '21 or the work done in '22 to remove a hill that was collapsing onto the pond road. The trench is as far from the pond edge as possible.

2. Dig down in that 12' long trench until we cross the seep and dig at least 2' down past the last wet/water/seep. It may be infiltrated with water add 3-500#'s of bentonite to bottom and seep side and see if we can get any bentonite slurry to flow into the seep/hole this is pure conjecture but we'll be ready with a slurry pan and 4gpm pump.

3. Once the bentonite is in and one the edges of the trenchare in with bentonite, fill and pack the trench with regular clay, add bentonite to it and on top. Fill trench and top with material.

4. Dig out the seep from that area and tree trunk.root from trench to pond, add 500-900#'s of bentonite into the trench and close to the opening, fillwith reglulr clay and top and sides with remaining bentonite.

5. Remaining Clay packed along the pond edge on/around the edge of the disturbed ground.






We're getting after this next Thursday the 14th.

 

[Stressless]

We executed the plan last Sep, put the clay(s) in both bentonite and regular gray clay. As always there's something that goes sideways but this time they were all kinda small and we made on site corrections, lotsa flow in the 10' deep hole- that got the most bentonite and covered with clay then packed.

I also regraded the new two track from pond to ridge. Installed a halfpipe to cut down erosion from that slope. Spread lime and seeded w crimson clover and rye.

Seep is much improved and pH and alkalinity are doing great with a sample tested yesterday.

Crescent pond is full and holding, stocking plan is on-going.

 

[Stressless]

I'll happily take the fertilizer they provide for the crimson clover. Ponds doing well. 4 of 5 wood duck nests are being used as well. A wildlife nursery with benefits lol.

 

[Stressless]

Stocked Crescent pond in late April, perch, shellcrackers, Fathead minnows and golden shiner. Trying to find a couple hundred papershell crayfish to finish off the forage stocking.

@Sgt Fury - George I've been checking the chemistry and the pH, alkalinity and nitrates are all holding up well. Been a couple years now, fingers crossed it'll hold/it's stabilized. I'll def keep checking but so far its doing well. This sample was taken about 1400 in the afternoon, at the peak pH height.

An indicator species, amphibians, are blowing up lol. The video is just a sample but they were thick and all along the 1200' sunlit bank on Saturday.

About 2/3's of the Bald Cypress are growing very well that got planted 2 years ago. With the pond pretty much stabilized and water/soil pH dialed in they should be doing great and making shade/cover in a few years.

 

[Stressless]

We slowed the seep thru the East side of Crescent pond with the work done in '23. When Chris came down March of this year we walked the entire Spoil bank and found two seeps. The first was very slow and our guess was that it might, possibly be coming from Crescent pond but many other possibilities in a 2-3 acre drainage. The second was clearly from Crescent pond and was coming out of the spoil bank at ~4.8pH - very hot. Clearly from Crescent pond as in it was the narrowest point and directly across the Spoil bank from where we dug the overflow and Mose got his dozer stuck in the tale above.

To give orientation this is the overhead looking the direction of the picture above. Green lines are ATV/UTV trails

I had Moses out to look at the possibility of creating a small dyke in the valley below the seep last fall and again in this July. We agreed the clay patch on Crescent pond side in the fall of '23 didn't plug the seep and that the seep seemed to running fairly strong even through we were in a good drought. Both times he was out we reviewed the idea to equalize the water levels, which will equalize the siphon pressure between Crescent Pond the low spot of the seep. This is exactly what we did on neighbor Cliffs side in '21 and it's holding well and remains full to the overflow on dyke we installed to equalize the pressure on the West (Highwall) side. We scheduled the work to be done in early Sep and Pic above is him cutting the road into the worksite.

All the farm is heavily treed and getting the worksite prepped, i.e., cleared of up to 28" trees was 40% of the effort. With the big trackhoe it went well and nothing too dangerous. I've worked with Mose prior on dropping and clearing trees so we got thru the tangles and got them all on the ground and out of the way. Just take you time and make sure you've got clear space for barber poles and other stress/tensioned problems from being moved with the trackhoe. Any with rootballs that might compromise the dyke or were below the new pond's water level and would have died we removed.

You can leave a hellofa hinge with a trackhoe giving a 3 tons of shove 20' up. With that much hinge they go right where you aim.

Moses, who makes his livelihood building ponds said the material we pulled from this side of the spoil bank was almost as good for the dyke as the two truckloads of he had brought in. Once we got the site fairly clear we packed every 18" of fill or so.

To equalize the pressure between the two bodies of water we did two things. 1st we ran the Crescent pond overflow thru the new dyke so the new little pond wouldn't have to deal with the volume of water coming from Crescent pond drainage.

2nd We took a measure at the bottom of the opening of the overflow on Crescent pond with a laser level, brought that measurement over and set the overflow of the new pond 10" above that so there's no possibility the level of Crescent pond will be lower the seep filled new pond, they'll self level to the lowest hole in the bucket - \which we anticipate to be the bottom of the overflow on the Crescent pond side. FWIW In the 200' of overflow pipe from Crescent pond thru the new dyke, we have 24" of drop. I installed the "sluices" or those 1/2 pipes on each of the ends of the overflows so the water shunts down off the back of dyke without erosion.

We finished with 18" of clay sheepfooted into the entire area of new dirt and some ways onto the spoil.

 

[Stressless]

In this awful drought the seep was flowing ~ 2 gpm, Crescent pond was ~ 2.5' low. In the four days since we completed it, the dyke has collected 100's of gallons of water and or course it's soaking the nearby soil as well as filling up. I added 400# of lime and a 100# of gypsum I had left over to the bowl and dam.

Start, 6 Sep

End with 4 days of water collection. 12 Sep.

We'll see... but it the new pond fills up it'll be right about 11' at the overflow. Lotsa trees left so already thinking of a rope swing to drop in the center of the pond like I had growing up on the farm pond. That's it on the Crescent pond work, I chased the seep/leak twice now and done. It's gonna do what it's gonna do, my best efforts are past to create a mostly level and enhanced access and recreation in an inaccessible 20+ acres of the farm.

 

[Big_Holla]

Nice job!! Great to see plans coming together to completion!

 

[JARHEAD]

In this awful drought the seep was flowing ~ 2 gpm, Crescent pond was ~ 2.5' low. In the four days since we completed it, the dyke has collected 100's of gallons of water and or course it's soaking the nearby soil as well as filling up. I added 400# of lime and a 100# of gypsum I had left over to the bowl and dam.

Start, 6 Sep
View attachment 199668
End with 4 days of water collection. 12 Sep.
View attachment 199669

We'll see... but it the new pond fills up it'll be right about 11' at the overflow. Lotsa trees left so already thinking of a rope swing to drop in the center of the pond like I had growing up on the farm pond. That's it on the Crescent pond work, I chased the seep/leak twice now and done. It's gonna do what it's gonna do, my best efforts are past to create a mostly level and enhanced access and recreation in an inaccessible 20+ acres of the farm.

You've done ALOTTA work to your ponds and your property. Great to see positive results! Hope your new pond fix works and good luck on the upcoming deer season.