Frogsite: Ponding (Pond Making)

Introduction

Ponding is the activity of helping frogs by improving their habitats. An example of ponding could be to dig a new pond for frogs. Ponding could also be extending an existing pond so that more frogs can live there. Ponding could be applying the city for permission to establish a new pond. Ponding could also be catching frogs at one pond and transporting them to a newly dug pond to establish a frog population. Ponding is a meaningful activity which anybody with spare time can perform.

Ponding is the perfect hobby: Instead of sitting indoors all day watching "Terminator 352", you can ask your friends if they want to go ponding. Once you've started ponding, you'll come to realize that ponding is healthy fun for everybody. Ponding gives both mental and physical exercise -- as you need to use your brain to figure out where to dig a pond, and you need your body to do the actual work of digging the pond.

Picking The Pond

First you need to identify a pond. Strictly speaking, the pond does not need to exist yet. But you either have to identify an existing pond or plan on creating a new pond. Good candidates are ponds growing over with weeds, ponds gradually drying up, ponds at risk of disappearing soon, ponds drying up every Summer, and so on. If you want to create a new pond, you need to find a suitable spot in a field or in grassland or in a forest, a spot that is wet most of the year so that all you need to do is to dig a huge hole, after which water will appear.

Getting The Permission

Once you've identified a suitable pond, or pond area, you need to get permission to either enlarge the existing pond or to dig a new pond. For this, you need to identify the land owner. A local register with an index of owners on each address can help. Sometimes, you can also find a register of land owners on the Internet. Once you've identified the owner, you need to get a permission to begin ponding on the land. First, give the land owner a call and explain elaborately to him or her what you have got in mind: Explain that frog populations are declining globally due to land claimation and that somebody need to take responsibility for making more frog habitats. Explain that you have decided to take responsibility for making more frog habitats in the area where the land is. Explain that the procedure is straigthforward and will last at least some decades. Explain that you will arrive armed with an excavator or spades, and that you will create a hole so and so large, that initially there won't be many more frogs, but when the next season begins, there will be plenty of frogs. Explain that frogs eat bugs, that an adult frog easily consumes between 6.000 and 7.000 bugs each season. If the land you're looking at is owned by the city, you may have to resort to making a formal proposal on extending the pond, or creating a pond, so that the city can itself perform the procedure.

Ensure you get a written permission after you've gotten a verbal permission. The written permission can come in handy if the land owner changes his or her mind after you've started work on the pond. If nothing else, a written permission can save you of legal hassles later on.

Establishing The Pond

If you are establishing a new pond, you want to make it deep enough that it will last for a while. Using an excavator, you should make the new pond at least 3 meters (10 feet) deep. You should also make the pond as large as possible -- at least 5 meters by 5 meters (15 feet by 15 feet). But, if you've already gotten hold of an excavator, why not make a noticable pond? Make it 20 meters by 20 meters (60 feet by 60 feet)! The larger the pond you make, the longer it will last. Remember that any wet spot on any field can do. Initially, there will simply be a pretty bare hole in the ground where the frogs can easily breed. As time goes by, plants will arrive and the pond will begin to take on the natural look. Make sure that you make gently sloping banks so that the frogs can get up from the water. Also, gently sloping banks allow wild animals to drink from the pond. After you've finished the new pond and there's water in the pond, you can go to an existing pond and gather some plants. These plants you can spread around in the new pond so that the plants establish a foothold much faster.

Extending A Pond

If you are extending an existing pond, you need to be careful of not harming any of the frogs who already live in the pond. The frogs will generally move away themselves, if only you ensure that they've got time to do so. So, don't arrive at the pond and then be digging with an excavator two minutes later. Arrive, walk about a bit, talk, make a bit of noise, scare the frogs away from the part of the pond that you are about to dig into. Make sure that you leave the pond with gently sloping banks somewhere, so that the frogs can get up from the water. Also, gently sloping banks allow wild animals to drink from the pond.

Improving This Page

If you've got real-life experiences, regarding establishing or extending ponds, that you'd like to share, please go ahead and email me at webmaster@frogsite.org.