Where to place swales

Hello,
Working on a 5 acre project. The middle of the property holds water well, while the high elevation area seems more dry during rain and the steepest around the edges I'm worried about erosion and steepening of the terrain due to it. I was thinking about placing swales in the two blue lines, I'm new to most of this and would love anyone's two cents?

I'm in the Pacific Northwest, with the heavy rainfall we get is there ever a time where a swale could cause the ground to be so saturated I need to worry about mudslide or anything, as you can see I'm not on a very steep slope but thought I'd ask?

Hi Michael, I'm no expert, but in one of the 'similar threads' I pulled up this titbit:

Jami McBride wrote:I've found that you have to be careful in your swale design - to deep in spots and the water slows (relatively speaking) and then soaks in down hill and turns that area into a mud bog....with surface water.

source
Jamie gives her location as Oregon PNW, so I guess a similar climate to yours. It may be that a too deep swale could therefore cause problems, particularly if the bottom was deeper in one location, so focussing the water in that particular area. Shallow swales are less likely to be an issue, or just aligning beds and paths on contour so as to slow water flow might help.

I see the units of measure are in feet, so it looks like a fairly steep block to walk up, is that the case?
What do you have in mind that requires swales?
Planting?
Mud slides are a function of soil type, what is yours?
What do you call heavy rainfall?

John C Daley wrote:I see the units of measure are in feet, so it looks like a fairly steep block to walk up, is that the case?
What do you have in mind that requires swales?
Planting?
Mud slides are a function of soil type, what is yours?
What do you call heavy rainfall?

From side to side it's about a 20 foot climb over 430 feet so 4.6% ish. The most eastern side is a bit steeper then the rest.

Rainfall is approx 50 inches a year 7 a month during the wet months and an inch during dry summers.

I put soil in a mason jar this morning, I'll let you know approximate %s, hopefully I can recognize them appropriately.

I want to rewild the east side and a border around the property and orchard the middle, small crop area mixed in somewhere.

Have you though of closer smaller swales or the suggestion about the keyline workings?

John C Daley wrote:Have you though of closer smaller swales or the suggestion about the keyline workings?

Thanks for this, I'm going on am adventure learning about key lines now. Definitely considering, seems like could help dispersion without creating a massive mud puddle.

That is correct.
Keyline uses a chisel plough drawn on contour around the paddock.
It creates a small cave deep down that will hold water and encourages excess surface water to move along the contour to a pond.

Now I am reading more concerning keylines specifically and drainage in general. Thank y'all for the nudge toward education on this crucial landowner topic.

John Daley, your breadth of experience and keenness to help is always a breath of fresh air. By the way, are you fully healed from last year's spell in the hospital?   We wish you health and happiness from North Georgia

Thank you Rico, I like sharing, that is just how I learnt things.
My injury still has about 12 months to go before I am as fit as I was. I can walk about 1km a day now, can lift about 18 kg
My legs will always be numb I believe, but they still work mostly, my left leg is gaining strength slowly.
I am planning to start racing my sidecars in 12 months, that is what drives me to get fit.
Can you sent me  messages about what you are trying to achieve at your place?

It was 37deg. C at my place and we have bushfires about 200km away because of the heat wave.