Using a backhoe to deepen a marshy area

tcreeley · Jan 17, 2015

Water needs a place to travel to in order to drain successfully. Water runs downhill. In ditching you have to think ahead and provide the right slopes to run the water off- and a place for the water to travel to. Otherwise the water will back up. Just digging the ditches deeper does little except provide frog swimming holes as the water sits in these ditches.
My ditches all connect and eventually find their way to the main road where they head to the local beaver pond. When it rains hard- the water flows in the ditches. Everything is sloped.
Summer is when I excavate- the ground is drier (July + August). Use the spring to draw yourself a map of where the water travels now across the surface. That map will be your reference for what needs to be redirected. Don't trust your memory!
Good luck!

TomSeller · Jan 17, 2015

We hired a dozer guy when increasing our duck pond size, but we are talking an acre plus.

Coyote machine · Jan 17, 2015

I had it done at my flip house next door. Pond had not been maintained for many years and the creek feeding it from springs uphill brought tons of silt and was choking off the entire pond. I re-routed the pond's spillway to where it had been years ago, and dredged tons of silt/muck onto the nearby hillside to revitalize the lawn/hill.
The thing you want is a long armed excavator. It is exactly as it sounds. It has a long boom arm to reach far out from the hoe without tipping/getting stuck issues. It is worth the cost because it gets the job done without the headaches of a conventional excavator.

pat32rf · Jan 17, 2015

Check around with the equipment leasing companies. You may get lucky when looking for that long arm excavator. They are amazing for pond and drainage work.