When going through the throes of building a lake, there are way-too-many factors to consider. First, it's a process.
Know that, now...before you ever think about turning a spade of dirt. Know this, you don't know what you don't know. Seek counsel and advice, like the Graves did.
Job One, figure out how your pond or lake will impound water and then safely release excess water in an orderly fashion. To do that, you must project the volume of water to expect, and what kind of dirt you have to work.
The first thing Mike Otto says to a prospective pondmeister is, "You have to have water...and dirt". Not just "water", but how much, and where it originates. From the clouds? A creek, spring? Watershed? Not just "dirt", either, but dirt that is least-porous.
You don't just pull up to a big truck with a bulldozer on its back at a fuel center diesel pump and ask if they can come build you a pond.
When Greg and Deanna Graves built Lake Deanna, near Drexel, Missouri, they had years of thinking and months of planning well ahead of weeks of construction. Engineers did what they do, and Greg worked with the best firms to literally turn over every rock, figure out every fracture, and then find the best contractor to do this complicated job.
In the first three installments of this six-part series, we wrote about planning, construction, and their fish habitat plan. This installment shares their action plan to finish strong. As the project was coming together, machines were rolling, dirt was moving, and the lake was being built. A big part of finishing strong was to completely understand the shore line. Hours were spent staking out and adding flags where the water line would be. That helped everyone understand the end gain and push to make sure the lake had the elements it needed for strong fish community habitat. Visualizing the shore line gave the third dimension of depths to everyone on site.
By then, it had been pounded into everyone's minds that shallow water is an enemy of long-term lake management. Deal with it now, even though it could be a big capital expense. The consequences of not dealing with too much shallow water was an herbicide bill each year and looking at a heavily vegetated cove here and there...not too attractive at an outside dinner party or wrapped on a clogged propellor during an evening cruise.
Other reasons to understand the shoreline was to project how best to use the lake. As the lake was under construction, the Graves were deciding what kind of infrastructure they wanted. Boat house, retaining wall with a place jutting out for fly-fishing, manicured lawn next to the wall, the view across the lake...those were a few things of importance as they thought through amenities and how they wanted to enjoy this gorgeous focal point developing in front of them.
With their mission of entertaining, holding charity events, family holidays, and surrounding themselves with people they love, they wanted those guests to be surrounded by a beautiful environment, teeming with fish and surrounding wildlife. None of this was happenstance.
Take the boathouse for example. Engineers figured out that, once full, the lake was likely to maintain a reasonable level, maybe drop a foot or two at most during a normal year. Boat slips are concrete, on a foundation built before the lake was finished. No one wants to take a giant step down to get into the boat. Adjoining the boathouse, a few steps away, on the lake, is a guest cabin. Originally, their guest cabin was planned several hundred yards away, in that rocky cove hammered out and deepened with heavy machinery. Change of plans, but it totally fit within their mindset and thought process.
Inside the boathouse is storage. Places for fishing tackle, life jackets, boating equipment, benches for sitting. They can clean fish comfortably and safely in the boathouse. Everything they might need to enjoy the lake has a place, in the boathouse.
Another important consideration for the Graves' is their view. Deanna literally spent hours and hours in the cab of a John Deere tractor with a batwing mower on the back, cutting grass all over the property. She's seen sunsets, sunrises, every angle, every time of day. She knows the view and their improvements reflect those hours. Family, friends, and guests can see the best of what she's seen from that tractor.
Finishing strong also means fine tuning their habitat communities. Since the lake will be used for boating as well as fishing, and cruises, they didn't want to compromise safety. Each fish structure, rock pile, timber and other cover added to create their underwater cities for fish, was to be at least five feet below the surface, except things close to the perimeter.
They worked with the contractor to ensure that rule was kept by periodically checking elevations.
As the construction finish line drew closer, the dam was covered with riprap slightly above and below the water line, and the rest of the dam was covered with topsoil and seeded for grass to quickly establish vegetation to hold disturbed soils in place.
Water was beginning to gather in the basin and the lake was well on its way, as infrastructure was moving at a faster pace.
All they needed next was a rain dance...or two.
Reprinted with permission from Pond Boss Magazine
