Cassandra,

I have no good advice as I have a tiny 160 gallon pond, but yours sure sounds like a fabulous challenge.

I imagine you will get responses from others who have experience with large ponds.

Good luck. Let us know what happens. I'd love to see photos of what you do with it.
Anne

Thanks, I def. will post pictures. I will post pictures of how the pond looks now as soon as the weather clears up. Then hopefully we will make it beautiful and I will post more :)

I have two smaller earth ponds here in WA state, and this time of year we get mosquitoes for a while. Then they tend to suddenly drop off in population. I think that may be due to a number of things. We used to have fish--they eat mosquito larvae. We have bats, we have swallows, we have mosquito eaters, we have dragon flies. And we try to make sure no little buckets are sitting out in the yard, collecting stagnant water where mosquitoes deposit their eggs.

I would screen the outflow of your pond and put in fish. I would also make sure no sewage from the surrounding land will drain into the pond--maybe dig ditches to divert drainage streams away, or into settling ponds. Then I would plant lilies and throw in some oxygenators, plants that grow in the shallows underwater.

I wouldn't throw in catfish or goldfish, out of concern for turbidity. I'm going to throw sunfish into mine, because they mass-multiply and may outgrow possible predators. The frogs will be no problem. The bullfrogs I like, but may eat the little peeper frogs. I would be more concerned than anything else about the location of your well in proximity with this pond, in case the pond is polluted and reaches your drinking water. The danger here to me is feces from animals reaching your well and running down along the pipe and into your drinking water.

I don't think you need to worry about cleaning out all the leaves and debris from your pond, unless you're worried about your pond eventually disappearing, or unless you want to wade/swim in the pond, without sinking deep down in the muck.
Randy

Hi
Your Cooperative extension should give you some managing advice. Would also think it would fall under Fish and game laws also?? Particularly if flowing water leaves your property. They should also know about that as well as what to stock .
There are many ways you could go with it depending on how much you want to work lol. Probably your best bet would be to turn it into a "fishing pond" stocked with some type of native fish??
Sounds like it could be turned into a really beautiful and useful asset to your property!!! good luck gary

Since the pond gets drainage off of the mountain, it isn't strictly speaking a pond the way we talk of a pond. Our ponds are protected as much as possible from drainage since we cannot control what is in that water. Do you have any idea what is on the mountain? We also wouldn't have any outflow from our ponds going anywhere near a drinking water supply. I can't imagine any state's laws allowing it.

Until you can get some decent information about your pond you need to take some precautions. The mosquitos do need to be controlled and I am sure there will be some information in that packet that is on it's way to you. Make sure there are no containers that contain water that will allow mosquitos to breed. If there are some you can't drain get some Mosquito Dunks. They can even be used in low spots where there is standing water. They are harmless to humans and pets and insects other than mosquitos and black flies.

Ask what fish you can stock in the pond. Bluegills seem to be popular here for larger ponds and a relative of the guppy called the mosquito fish are often given away by your local health department for mosquito control. Fish and the frogs are great natural controls of mosquitos. Mosquitos don't lay eggs in moving water. Look into a pump if at all possible.

If the kids and dogs must go out they need protection. Most states recommend products containing Deet but it can be controversial. Check with the Doctor and Vet. Many mosquito bites can cause a nasty allergic reaction. Ask your Doctor if you can give them Benedryl for bad reactions. My sons and I develop hives if there are too many bites. The Vet can give you info on how much Benedryl to give to your dogs and cats. They can be allergic too.

If the water smells stagnant, it needs aeration. Circulation will cause the leaves to migrate to lower spots where they can be removed easier. It is not an easy task but buildup will hurt water quality. A pump may sound expensive but it may be your best option. Then think about what kind of plants you can add if your Extension agent recommends it. Any sort of turbulence will add oxygen to the water. It needs to go 24/7 to be effective.

I'm sure your local Extension and the DNR will be helpful to you. There are commercial companies out there that can give you advice and even maintain the pond for you. They do cost a lot though.

Not all advice for water gardens and fish ponds is the same for a drainage pond.

Some great advice already.

Most County Extension Services (offices) are tied to the state land-grant universities and other branches of government, those dealing with wildlife and forestry, home and farm, etc. They are usually receiving funding thru those institutions in some way and maybe the local county/city. I just know I often go in to talk to the resident experts at the CES and they are either going to the agriculture college to pick something up or drop something off.

They can take water samples, for instance, and have them analyzed for you. They can do the same with soils, etc. Sometimes a small fee is involved, but I'm really surprised and delighted when they tell me that they "are involved with a grant program and as long as I'm within the program area there's no cost" to me. Great.

I've had some other issues around my small quarter acre parcel of land and they've set up an appointment and come to pay a visit. They usually take notes, samples, and give me a follow-up letter. Nice.

I would get to know some of the people there in NH, I'm sure they know more about your struggles & worries, even more than you can imagine.

Here is a link that might be useful: A Link To County Extensions Wikipedia

Another link to the related agricultural extensions...

Here is a link that might be useful: Also Wikipedia entry for Agricultural Extensions

The book that got me excited about ponds initially was Tim Matson's "Earth Ponds," which I read out of a library many years ago. I still don't think you can improve on him. I can't imagine him not answering any question you may have about it. But you seem to get good answers here as well, even though this forum is largely for garden ponds. http://www.earthponds.com/books.htm
Randy