Cleaning Up A Neglected Farm Pond

[Applause] new day new project just got the uh 220 delivered to this job this morning uh the home builders got a another local clearing guy to uh he's gonna be clearing this lot um they already had that scheduled before but i'm actually working for the sun's gonna build a house here working for the mother on cleaning up this old farm pond back here let's go down here and check it out he's gonna build a house right here overlooking the pond we'll get in here and check it out real quick so here is the old farm pond a nice cypress tree right here he's lowered the water down some i got lowered a little bit more um to do the work that i got to do but uh i'm gonna be clearing out some of those uh dead trees right there those river birch trees i gotta brush cut the pond dam here put a new overflow i'm gonna clear along that edge over there and take out the island clean up the trees around it just you know overall spruce it up a little um it's pretty overgrown i'm gonna brush cut everything that i can reach from up here it's got like an old four inch overflow pipe in it and uh where's the stick at right there i've got to unclog that and uh get the water to drain down some more i hear it trickling out but it's a lot more flowing here than there is a pipe so what i'm going to do is clear out back here on the backside of this pond damn some do a burn pile right there take these trees out all the way down this edge and the island and dredge out any of this sediment right here that needs to be taken out and clean up kind of the creek channel up there and just make it overall a nice pretty view from the house up there coming down here because that's just the overgrown nasty mess with all this wood and tree debris out here so that's the uh project at hand here [Music] [Music] so behind the pond dam here is the overflow if i can get down here to it all the briars and bushes it looks like there's about a quarter of a pipe coming out just a four inch pvc pipe and a overflow so i can find my way back up here uh they said a long time ago when somebody was brush cutting the dam they knocked the uh pipe off or broke it somehow but that's how i'm gonna use it to drain it down i'm gonna try to get that unclogged i'm gonna reach over there beside it and try to scratch out a little bit i don't really know what's going on said he put the pipe there beside it or the uh i guess the old handle i don't see where it's at but let me see if i can uh dig around it and find out uh where it's at see if i can get it to go down a little bit more i need to take that island out so i need it down about another foot and a half two feet well i reached around and got some of those uh branches and stuff off and i shimmied the way out there on top of the thumb and the bucket and got it unclogged and i'm gonna dig around the other side a little bit i'm actually going to go out there with the chainsaw and cut that down about a foot so that it'll drain it on down and it'll probably drain it down enough while i'm here so i keep an eye on it i'll be sure to get a video of me out there trying to cut that off with a chainsaw all right wish me luck so [Music] okay [Music] that'll take it out another eight inches and i'll do it again all right as you can tell i got that cut off wasn't pretty but this is about as far as i could uh cut in the water and cut it somewhat even let's go check it out and see how much flow we have should be a full four inch pipe i didn't get wet so that's a good day in my book oh yeah i got good flow now that'll take it on down drain it out some all right i'm gonna let that go down i'll probably have to cut it off one more time before i leave i'm just gonna work a half day here today and uh kind of get started on clearing some of these trees out because that's got to drain down and dry up some the problem is the beavers uh have tried clogging that up and that's why there's so much stuff around it is they'll actually they can't stand the sound of water flowing and that's why the water was going through the spillway when i looked at this job back in september but uh yeah that should pull it on down and i'm gonna end up capping that and plugging that off but uh and put a new overflow in so let me go over here and get started on some trees i'm gonna make my way down this bank over here the pink ribbon is marking the line that i'm not going to clear anymore past i might have to take down that tree right there to get a little bit more room that might turn a little soft because i do have to get steer a fair amount of mud out so i can't wait here so what i'm going to do is clear all this stuff out pile it up burn it back here behind the pond dam the uh owner wants the pine log he's gonna get a little sawmill they're gonna build a pretty good sized [Music] pile this up i want to save all those cedar trees because it is almost the dead of winter now stuff's wet and green and won't burn but those will pretty much burn dry so i'm gonna set those to the side and use that to be able to get my fire started like that they chewed that tree off killed it that's pretty much why everything's flooded the normal level of the ponds was not this high and they plugged it that drain [Music] caused the pond to be higher than normal for an extended period of time and that's what killed all these trees [Music] i'm gonna take them out clean it up redress this shoreline probably raise the water up back to almost the level the fever had it a little bit below that spillway though all this rock mess that won't burn i'll just take it i'm going to fill in this corner of the pond dam back here behind it i can just mix all that in with the mud i'll probably burn somewhere right in here someone's gonna put this stuff over here to the side for now make a little room [Music] i got to clear out all this go ahead getting the cedar trees it's gonna be my fire kindling [Music] that's about the only hope i have to be able to get a fire burning this time of year relatively easy [Music] [Music] [Music] they pile this over here up to the side out of the way that way it doesn't get buried into the brush pile even these stumps will probably burn if i can throw them over here and get a little dirt knocked off of them swing into it look how the beavers started chewing on that pine tree right there got it all screwed up oh yeah i'm gonna be able to get a fire going pretty good with that so [Music] this beaver did a number on this stuff so [Music] so all right i'm gonna finish cleaning up i'll go ahead and take those dead trees down then we'll finish up cleaning some more of that stuff up then i'm gonna go ahead and start dropping these bigger trees and getting them cut up and cleaned up swinging into that pine tree these couple dead ones probably put this in the pile of dead stuff too it should burn better than a green tree [Music] so then you can't even hardly grab it [Music] [Music] [Music] i think this pretty much used to be about the level of the pond [Music] all right well let me get all this mess cleaned up so i'm a little over halfway up the pond here now see where the beavers have chewed around them and probably gonna die over time plus i need a path around here but everything's going pretty good get everything cleaned up all the small stuff separated out uh the dead cedar so that i can use those to get the fire started all this i'm just going to crunch up and burn probably have to wait till uh a sprinkle of rain to burn because i'm like right out in the middle of the woods i don't need to set the woods on fire [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] so so pretty much the house up there is kind of the homestead of this place and this is the sun's going to build a house right there it wants the pond to be you know nice and pretty looking around it so that's kind of why i'm cleaning all this up making everything nice and presentable i have a nice edge to be able to go around right here gonna help keep everything mowed and maintained around the pond a little bit better before you couldn't even get around here so it's kind of what i'm trying to do is get all this cleaned up so it looks nice and we'll take out most of those trees over there so they can be able to see across to the pond it's gonna turn out nice look at that bigger oak tree right there just so they've got a little a little bit of shade around the pond here even though there's all these other trees i kind of don't want to leave it completely bare i ain't going to figure out how i'm going to get to that island yet i have to take some of these trees and logs build me a path break the mud mats i'm going to try to avoid that if all possible just because i have no good access to get a trailer in here with them [Music] [Music] stick the bucket in the ground and kind of see how soft it is maybe it's got a solid bottom i doubt it though they never do so [Music] [Music] [Music] so [Music] [Music] [Music] all right let me get those cleaned up and i'll make my way out there so i made it up here all the way to the head section of the pond where the spring there's a spring you see it coming out the ground right there it squirts up and runs down there's another one over there and that's what keeps this pond full i'm going to clear out this stuff right in here they want to kind of pretty much clean this mess up because all this is pond get this dug out this is what i'll be digging out to um get a little depth here as it's only about a foot deep when the pond is full pretty much clean this mess up and uh have it so they have a nice view from the house up there and i'm going to finish cleaning all this junk up and these two big trees are staying but the rest of that stuff is getting knocked up here i'm going to down ahead and clear down the pond right here uh i'm dying to know how soft that is right there so i can kind of plan accordingly for uh so far what i've checked in the creek right here it's only about a foot but a half deep something solid [Music] this is gonna be really pretty fun when it's all cleared up around it's just been neglected for years and years so [Music] my so [Music] so see how everything's just kind of conjugated right here this is what they want to clean out so bad the big old uh it was bigger than a field mouse underneath the tall grass we'll probably see it again [Music] so go ahead and take this dead tree down before i bump it and it falls on me [Music] it's just a mess right here where all this stuff died and fell down into the pond i think the pond is about at the level it was when it was supposed to be full i don't know maybe a little bit taller all right moment of truth yes solid ground let's get a little worried because that's uh that could have been a nail in my side right there that was now i ain't got out there yet but if it's solid in that creek channel it'll be pretty decent out here i just gotta get the pond down enough where that's dry [Music] awesome i love it when a plane comes together i'd drive right there to it [Music] break some branches out so that it'll start drying out so so that's normally why i try to talk people out of islands when i'm building a new pond is because there's absolutely no way to get out there to maintain it unless you either swim out there or put a weed whacker in a boat and go out there i mean they had a bridge but it fell down and you just see it it turns into an ungodly eyesore unless you you're really dedicated to maintain it me on the other hand i don't want to have to deal with building a bridge out there to it or putting a lawn mower in a boat this is really soft right here let's just dry out a little bit more where's that tree at it's gonna be a little squishy all right well i'm gonna clean this up and then it's gonna be time to take some big trees all right i'm gonna start up here and take down the biggest tree i'm just like quick to say i'm gonna try not to dig too big of a hole because i've got to drive through here look at that oh boy that's not going to take much to knock this down i don't think look at that when i hold this butt out i might have to take this kitchen here through a pass or something that right there is liquid i honestly don't know how that pine tree is still alive living in that at least it's not gonna take much to push over [Music] sir [Music] that's what i was trying to avoid is making a big soft spot if i can break a little dirt off before i roll that up out of the stump hole now that it's all nice and muddy [Music] there we go get up here where i can work with you all right let me grab the chainsaw real quick chop that up and we'll move on to the next one i wasn't expecting that to be that liquidy right here though all right so i got that victory cleaned up i'm gonna take and take these two down everything's turned into quicksand everywhere i dig there it gets pretty squishy i'm hoping it kind of dries out with the pond being down some i'll let it set next week let it do what it's gonna do [Music] area trying not to dig too much because i've got to be able to drive through back through here i don't want a bunch of giant sinkholes [Music] so [Music] inside your liquid [Music] [Music] so [Music] and let me go cut this up now so i made pretty good progress this afternoon i've gotten uh everything cleared down this edge this tree line i saved that tree and those three right there and got all that small stuff cleaned out and the trees ripped up i'm gonna go back out there now before i leave and check the overflow it's drained down about four or five inches i need it to go down well i need to at least drive from there across so i'm gonna go out there if i gotta take chainsaw and cut it down a little bit more and if that's dry tomorrow i may go out there and clear off the trees off that island and maybe lay that dirt back against the bank here so it'll dry out some but i'll just have to see how much water comes out uh this evening and overnight and i still gotta take down those few smaller trees along that shoreline over there but it's coming along pretty good let's go check the uh overflow drain out now so it gotten clogged up it's still about six inches below the water level now i'm going to actually grab the chainsaw and see if i can cut another four or five inches off whatever i can reach to get it down a little bit lower let it drain down tonight but you can see the ring right there on the bank that it's gone down i know that's like six or eight inches but probably in elevation up and down uh four four five inches all right let me get the saw and see if i can trim that down a little bit more all right i went out there to the chainsaw and cut it down another six or eight inches that is slightly difficult to do [Music] there's a good stream coming out now though it'll pull that down good according how tall this pond dam is there's still probably going to be four or five feet of water out there so all right i'm gonna let that drain down overnight [Music] check it out tomorrow starting to look better already

Channel: letsdig18

Views: 550,989

Rating: 4.899303 out of 5

Keywords: excavator, trackhoe, track, hoe, digger, bagger, volvo, hauling, moving, pond, farm, lake, old, homestead, clogged, oveflow, drain, pipe, water, neglected, overgrown, land, clearing, grading, tree, removal, heavy, construction, equipment, chainsaw, stihl

Id: c2wXsqTVBEQ

Length: 36min 47sec (2207 seconds)

Published: Sun Dec 06 2020