Restoring My Pond
A big project to restore a little pond on my farm is almost complete.
Restoring the health of a pond is very important. It improves the quality of the pond's water, supports aquatic life, and promotes a clean and balanced ecosystem. I began this project about a year ago with the removal of several large and unstable trees. The next step was to dredge as much of the pond silt as possible - decaying plants, dirt, old leaves, and other debris that had accumulated and settled at the bottom. After the cleaning phase, the pond walls were reinforced with huge rocks and boulders and the spillway was repaired. Here's the first of several blogs showing how it was all done.
Enjoy these photos.
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- This old pond is located on the edge of one of my hay fields, not far from a grove of beautiful weeping willow trees I planted when I moved to my farm. I’ve long wanted to restore this pond and make it cleaner, prettier and better for visiting wildlife.
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- A year ago, I began taking out the dead trees from in and around the pond. My outdoor grounds crew secured ropes to the logs so they could be pulled out.
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- One by one, the dead trees and all the limbs and branches were removed.
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- Just pulling out these trees made the pond look so much better.
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- The trees were all put through the chipper to make wood chips.
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- However, the pond was still murky and filled with decades of silt and other debris on the pond floor.
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- A pump was set up to help separate the water from the silt and empty the pond for cleaning.
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- A huge tractor and loader was used to clear a path, so silt could be removed and placed outside the pond.
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- The exact make-up of the silt, or sludge, in a pond depends on the location and the variety of plants that are around the water’s edge. When there is too much, it depletes the pond of oxygen.
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- Wood and steel mats are placed on the path so the tractor can work as close to the pond as possible.
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- Juan is an excellent tractor operator. He is able to maneuver the equipment in tight areas safely and efficiently.
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- This is a silt fence, a temporary sediment control barrier that keeps any removed silt from getting into other sensitive areas.
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- Separated water pumped out bypasses this area and goes to the clean streams beyond.
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- Here is one of the giant hoses that funnel the water out of the pond.
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- Smaller machinery is used to transport the silt away from the pond. Packed with nutrients, the silt will eventually be recycled back into the soil here at my farm.
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- This process took a few weeks. It is important not to disturb any wildlife or dig too deep. It should bot be dredged deeper than the clay layer which acts as a barrier preventing any water seepage into the soil.
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- This shows the pond a couple weeks later.
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- Other debris from the bottom of the pond is removed.
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- Here, one can see the bottom and debris that has been in the pond for years.
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- And here is a section of the pond after so much of the dredging is complete. It looks so much better already, but the project isn’t done yet. There’s so much more to be done to bolster and beautify the pond edge and repair the old spillway.
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