So … just where should you build your pond?
If you have a small property, this is probably a less agonizing question than for those with a large one. However, even homeowners who only have a few acres from which to choose have several decisions to make about where to cite their aquatic playgrounds.
As we’ve discussed before when talking about farm ponds, “There are dozens of different considerations that determine the perfect site for a pond. Many of them are a matter of preference or fixed by circumstances. Other factors are more specific to your property, such as ground slope, soil composition, and available sources of water.”
The same goes for duck hunting ponds. Where you choose to site yours will depend on a variety of factors – personal, logistical, and governmental. Here are some of the most important to consider.
Soil and Slope
The basic components of your land are perhaps the most important determining factors when it comes to where you should cite your pond.
First, slope. If you have a natural depression on your property, that’s an ideal place for a pond. It minimizes or obviates the need for excavation, meaning you don’t have to hire heavy machinery or put in the sweaty hours yourself. If you don’t have a natural slope, then you still have a number of options, but the choice may not be as obvious. We will discuss that in the next section: Pond Types.
Second, soil. There are three ingredients of soil – sand, silt, and clay (excluding the loam you find in the top few inches to few feet of soil, which typically has a lot more organic matter mixed in). The most important ingredient for our purposes is clay, which is the only one capable of retaining water.
If you have soil that is naturally rich in clay (20% or more), then you can simply excavate an area and fill it with water. However, if you do not, then a pond won’t work; the water will simply leach away. There are two solutions to this:
- You can import clay and cover the bottom of your pond with it to a depth of 2 inches. Anything less, and you’ll find your water still seeps away into the ground. This can be expensive.
- Purchase a pond liner to create an impermeable bottom for your pond, ensuring that you’ll never lose water to anything other than evaporation.
If you’re not sure which approach is best, you can talk to an expert. You’ll find them at your local university’s extension service or companies such as BTL Liners that give advice just as this all day long.
Permits and Waterways
Next up, what are the rules in your area about pond-building? The laws governing whether you’re able to just build a pond on your property differ from state to state. In some, you can go ahead without notifying anyone or getting permits. In others, you’ll need to go through the proper legal channels before breaking ground or redirecting water on your property.
In most states, however, the rules sit somewhere between the two. Some factors that may impact whether you need to get permitted include if the pond will:
- Affect nearby waterways, such as rerouting a stream – even if that stream flows right through your property
- Be within a certain number of feet of nearby existing bodies of water
- Create a drainage area that exceeds a certain size (often measured in acreage)
- Require draining into a municipal area
- Connect to a municipal plumbing system
- Be located in an area with a wetland designation, which is often subject to specific rules and regulations at the local, regional, state, and federal levels
- Exceed certain dimensions or hold extensive volumes
- Go low enough to access the groundwater supply (aquifers)
Again, you must follow the exact regulations for your area. Again, most experts in pond building and materials can direct you to the applicable resources for determining what rules govern your particular property and pond plan.
You can also simply search on Google. Search terms such as “can I build a pond?” will usually bring up the regulations applicable in your situation, but if not, you can add on your specific town/county/etc. to narrow them down further.
Neighbors’ Properties
Ah, neighbors. Sometimes they’re the best, and sometimes they’re truly not the best. Whatever the case, you don’t want to make them mad at you. Unfortunately, ponds have serious potential to start neighbor wars if you’re not careful.
Neighbor disputes over ponds can arise for many reasons, including:
- Pond drainage during overflow times: If your pond overflows and that creates runoff for a neighbor to deal with, they might not be happy. It can cause erosion, endanger their foundations, or change their landscape in unwelcome ways. In serious cases, it can even cause sinkholes and downed trees.
- Wildlife presence: While you might value the increased number of ducks, geese, and deer on your property, neighbors might consider this a nuisance. If you’re not sure how a neighbor feels about a nearby pond, and if they won’t get out of it what you will, then keep your project away from them.
- Pollution: Pond overflow near neighbors’ properties can create pollution issues if your overflow will cause fertilizer or pesticide runoff.
- Nearby waterway: If a neighbor also has a waterway in their yard, they likely care about it. This could include a stream, water feature, or even a pond of their own. If overflow during precipitation events will cause your pond to come into contact with their body of water, that could be a problem.
These issues are less likely to occur way out in the country where parcels are larger, but you should still be wary of placing your pond along the property line. If you know your neighbors well and have joint enthusiastic agreement about building it, then go ahead.
Remember, though, you can’t control how much precipitation will occur in a given year. (We presume that, much like you are not medieval French landed gentry, you are likewise not a rain god.) Even the most generous-spirited neighbor is not going to be happy if you’ve planned poorly for years of high precipitation and they end up with months of runoff.
We cannot say enough, it’s never a bad thing to have an expert come out and take a look at your property. If you’re going to provide valuable habitat restoration services in your area, there’s a good chance you can get a consultation for free. Try the Forest Service, local Parks and Recreation resources, native gardening groups, or wildlife restoration specialists for help.
Convenience and Aesthetics
To date, we’ve discussed a lot of logistics and environmental considerations, but the entire point of your duck hunting pond is, well … duck hunting. Therefore, you should spend as much time thinking about what works for you and your family and friends as you do about the other aspects of pond building.
Some questions to ask before selecting a site include:
- What are the safety requirements to keep family members, neighbors, and passersby safe?
- How far do I want to walk to use this pond?
- What else will I use the pond for?
- How much do I or other stakeholders care about the way the pond looks?
- Do I plan to sell the property in the future, and are there any aesthetic considerations to keep in mind? (FYI, most duck ponds improve properties by any metric, but it’s still good to ask.)
You want your pond to work for you, and you want it to provide lots of ducks. Thinking through the above question and finding the right balance of considerations is important. But you’ll also need to take into account the …
Proper Shelter for Ducks
You can plan for convenience, aesthetics, neighborliness, and permits all day long. But if you neglect to take the ducks’ wishes into account, chances are they’ll choose another pond. So when seeking the perfect location on your land, make sure to provide for shelter.
“Most kinds of wildlife need shelter to protect themselves from predators and, especially during winter, from severe weather,” says the Michigan Department of Natural Resources. “Other types of wildlife, such as groundnesting birds, require a safe place to lay eggs and to raise their young. Shelter can be as basic as a hollow tree used by a screech owl to rear its young or as complex as a large stand of switchgrass where a pheasant can survive a severe snowstorm.”
Ducks aren’t picky about shelter, but they do have specific requirements.
“Ducks can be nervous when they are out of the water, and tall marsh grasses planted around the edge of a pond will help them feel secure,” says The Spruce. “A brush pile can provide additional shelter for ducks, and they will use shrubby cover as necessary to stay protected.”
Also, they add, make sure to give them plenty of nesting room: “Ducks will nest in a variety of places, from ground nests in concealed grassy areas close to a pond to brush piles that may be quite some distance from the nearest water source. Providing duck boxes can help attract nesting ducks.”
The popular home blogging site notes that ducks will use a variety of containers for nesting, from planters to flower boxes. “Cavity-nesters” will even choose hollow trees and snags for building nests. As such, you have a huge variety of options when it comes to drawing them in and making them feel safe. We’ll consider shelter again below, when we discuss building materials for your pond.
If you don’t have a ton of land to choose from and are thinking, “So wait, do the back 10 not work for my pond after all?” don’t stress. If your property doesn’t have natural shelter for ducks, you can always create it through proper native landscaping.
Now that we’ve fleshed out all the considerations for where to build your pond, let’s dive into the how.
