I would call your local soil and water commission....or something like that. Opinions here might differ because we might live in different states that have different laws than your's. Find out for sure about your state's laws. It sounds like a cool idea...what you want to do....but you sure wouldn't want to get fined and have to un-do it all later. Good luck.

Hi Balsam Girl,

You need to investigate how your land is officially classified. Your local county government will have created a land use map for your county. Find out how they have classified your land on their map. They can also give you information about approved land uses.

With that said, I'll make some wild assumptions (county and state regulations do vary). If your land is classified as upland that occassionally floods, then it's not a wetland. You can do as you wish with your land. If your land is classified as farmland, you will have few restrictions. If your land is classified as an official wetland, then it gets interesting.

Restrictions on wetlands depend on how abundant wetlands are in your area. If you have the only wetlands for miles around, then the government would appreciate you not messing with it. On the otherhand, in my state where wetlands are abundant, farmers literally dig up thousands of acres of wetlands and produce cranberry bogs. I believe that Wisconsin is the first or second largest producer of cranberries in the US. Not only does the government approve of this, but they have given tax incentives in the past to promote agriculture. Much depends on local wetland abundance, or lack of abundance, in your area.

Here are more wild assumptions. Usually, even strict zoning of a wetland only concerns massive land alterations like land grading with a bulldozer, filling with many dump trucks full of dirt, and ditch tiling. These are big projects using large machinery. Digging a 6 inch deep hole, 2 feet in diameter, with a hand shovel isn't going to be a problem (again, talk to your local county government, they get this question all of the time and they are happy to talk with you).

Tom

You need to do it and not worry, nothing about this that can't be fixed in a heart beat. You are there and will take care of it.

It is against the law to use gray water where I live and I do it and don't care. I know what I'm doing and the legislature does not. The laws are made in my case to suit lobbyist for the septic tank people.

I kind of hate to say it, but if it were me I'd probably just go ahead and do it. Once you open this up to people with the power to regulate, you are probably going to have to deal with a whole lot of paper-pushing that was really meant for people making significant changes to the landscape, not for someone wanting to dig a few small ponds for frogs.