Interesting.
Is there any concern that once those ponds become wetlands and habitat, that you might lose control of them to the government? I know that in some states, once an area is officially named a wetland, you lose certain rights to it and can actually get into allot of trouble if you build or modify either the wetland itself, or the area around it.
If there is no government issues, I think it's an awesome thing to do. Ducks Unlimited has just about turned the bird population around by convincing farmers and both the Canadian and US Governements to give tax credits to those farmers for doing the exact same thing. Those small, shallow, seasonal ponds are critical for all sorts of habitat. They are also easy to fill in and turn to farm land, so it's why they disapeared so quickly. Now that Ducks Unlimited has had such tremendous success with the creation of those small ponds, the bird populations are way up again!!!
Please keep us updated on your ponds and the wildlife they bring in. I've noticed tremendous activity around my ponds and it just seems to get better all the time. We see birds using it that we've never seen before and tracks from all sorts of critters, both big and small. Soon, I'm going to set up a game camera along the shoreline to see if I have a beaver using it. Something is climbing up from the creek and crossing my dam at the same spot all the time. It's created a trail and a slide that's pretty easy to see. We're just not positive what it is, but I think it's a beaver. My FIL thinks it's a Nutria. We'll see when I set up the game camera.
Good luck with your plans,
Eddie
50 acres of wetlands will certainly create great habitat for many bird and mammal species
