A full day, today. My colleague, Mat Fitzgerald, and I spent the morning working the soil around the top edges of the pit to create a flat surface, 2 feet wide all around, that we could use as a 'lip' where the pond liner will be secured outside of the pit:
After lunch, we were back at it, this time to lay the pond liner. It took a couple of hours of tugging and readjusting, some blisters, and quite a few lungfuls of silica (which coated the liner to stop it sticking to itself — nasty stuff), but we are pretty pleased with the result (the bumps are bedrock ridges):
For now, we've decided against installing a drywell to control the water level until we see how the wetland behaves when it is full, although it remains an option (along with a french drain outside the downslope berm) if necessary.
In consultation with representatives from School District 18, we've also decided to install a fence around the perimeter of the wetland, for safety. We had originally intended to leave it open, but install a wire mesh just below the water surface wide enough to allow frogs to enter and leave, but strong enough to stop a child from falling in. It turned out that the feet of the mesh screen would likely puncture the liner, so it got the thumbs down.
Some basic landscaping begins tomorrow...
RSS Feed