Greetings,

I have a bare lot with my home.
I am in the process of designing the yard.  My wife and I have decided to "Plant a Forest."  The yard will be a forest.  Same grasses, weeds, flowers, trees and rocks.  I will manage weeds as needed.
Pond is going to be placed on low end of property. I will be placing snow fences. I hope to collect water for the pond in this swamp.  

I would like to discuss the several aspects of this dream.  

Pond:30x40x10 feet deep.  6' Chainlink fence on pond placed in a manner to be moved or added onto with complete reuse of fence parts.  We are 2 blocks from an elementary school.  This is rural America.  Fence will also keep deer out.  I want the trees to grow as much as possible in the first 10 years.  

Snowfield: Plant bushes like those in swamp areas.  l am thinking about using pond liner material laid out in snow field.  Backfill 10 inces of good soil on it.  Having it leveled and shaped to drain into pond.  End of snowfield on pond has row of large rocks and grasses to "filter" snowfield drainage into pond.

We have no rain water collection rules.  

Water:  Roofs on house 1700 sqft.  Collect all water.  4" pvc downspouts plumped to water tank in ground.  5000 gallon tank.  This will overflow to pond.  Future roof of shop will be added to system.

Power:  Solar panels to run pumps in pond and yard lights.  Solar panels placed on roof of house.  Long side of house faces south. 56'.

Flora on project:  https://www.fs.fed.us/wildflowers/regions/Rocky_Mountain/SnowyRangeByway/index.shtm .  Spruce, Bristlecone pine, Cedar, Douglas fir, Apsen and Fir.

Trees:  I can buy living snow fence trees.  I will be checking on cost in the spring.  Concerned about survival rate on large transplanted trees.  I will plant trees that are 6' or taller.  I want a forest as quick as it will grow.

Pond dirt will be bermmed on edge and corner of property.  Berm will be 15ft wide.  3 to 4 feet tall.  Trees will be planted on this mound.  Soil is sandy loam. Large boulders will be placed on this mound.
On inner edge of dirt berm mound I may build a footing knee wall.  This knee wall footing can be used to place the large boulders on.  I do not want them ever to move and slide down inside edge of pond in a drought year.


Drawings and pictures will follow.

Lots of thought and designs to be created.  But so far this is what I've got.
While planning this I would like to do all of it once and done.  

-Z-

Michael,  quick observation regarding this thread and lack of responses: It would be helpful to update your profile with a zone/location/climate info. It is sort of shadow boxing without that...

I'm not familiar with the snowfence/pond strategy and the living snow fences you mention.  I sort of get the idea that the snow pond thing is where your water lands and gets biologically filtered before becoming a pond downhill; is that right?

At any rate, you haven't asked any questions about your project so I'm not sure what to say.  Most of what you wrote sounds reasonable and feasible, so I can give you that much at this point.  

I will add at this point:  After the pond, which seem pretty big, where does the water go?  Even though all that rain would be landing on your property and probably draining to this lower area, now that you will have a pond there, it draws notice to the fact that you are directing all that flow there, so downstream neighbors are potentially going to wonder about it, and about all the excess water that overflows out of the system in a large rain event.  So where does it go?  I would put a lot of water loving species there for an outflow filter.

Oh, and the pond, if varying in depth a lot and having shallow parts on the sides, will make it a lot more biologically diverse, and make maintaining the edges a lot more safe and less work and might eliminate the need for the wall to support the rocks.  might be nice to have a walking path/wheelbarrow path between the pond edge and the berm.  You might want to hugulkulture part of the berm for food production rather than trees.  

And one more thing before I fly:  large trees tend to not transplant nearly as well as smaller trees.  They will establish but will not grow deep tap roots (which allow for a more maintenance free future) as readily as smaller younger trees, and thus are potentially prone to problems, depending on species.  You might be able to do this in order to gain the privacy you desire, and slowly replace them with younger trees that will establish in a stronger, longer lasting way.