Need thoughts on "drying out" my land.

[Runs With Scissors]

I have been "trailblazing" a little so that my grand kids can ride the Mini-bikes and Rhino someplace other than around the cottage.

The problem is that there are quite a few areas where the ground is very wet most of the time.

Now for the occasional travel it's not too bad, but repeatedly going over those spots produces some problematic "mud holes".

The property is pretty flat, and has LOTS of small saplings. So many in fact, that it makes walking around very difficult (think jungle), but relatively few large trees. It is also insanely rocky when you dig.

I am looking to try and "dry it out" this summer.

My first thought is to start "thinning out" the saplings to allow a little more air flow, and sunlight to help dry things out a bit.

But I am not sure thinning it out will be nearly enough, as the "back yard' also has "water pockets" after it rains, and these pockets take days to dry out, despite having no trees around and getting "full sun".

I have never had a property this large; So any thoughts on how to get it to dry out ?

 

[rc51stierhoff]

Good day.

The little town nearest me did the same thing…now there are churches everywhere and you can’t buy beer at the gas stations.

id probably start with a topo map of your parcel and surrounding areas and maybe also get in touch with extension service (soil and water). If you don’t have a good topo your extension service most likely will have some decent software or know of a good app for you to use. Ultimately I’d think need to figure out how to draw the water off. But with a topo you may see some high spots for your trails and see how best to draw water off your trail system and limit the water features. Anyway that’s my simple thought. Good luck.

 

[johnjk]

Sounds similar to the issues I have where I am located. Relatively flat with little drainage. I was able to go on to the County’s property site and find topographical and soil maps for my land as well as the surrounding properties . Super useful to see where your high spots are and where water wants to drain. I was able to put in some drains in the front of the property to dry it up and in the back I’ve been doing swails to help water drain over to where it needs to go. Even with all that this spring my north side of the property is under almost 6” of standing water. I’ll be doing some dirt moving once it dries out enough. In the woods with the roots and trees, it’s more of using the FEL to trench and the box blade to pull high to low. My woods is a mess from the people who logged it. Lots of ruts to pull the dirt back in. I walked it this past weekend and I have lots of standing water. A fee of those are vernal pool which I leave alone but the logging damage I flag for pulling that dirt back in and leveling it out. We don’t have a lot of rocks, just clay.
If you are cutting a lot of saplings, consider mulching them and using them for a trail base. It won’t do much in standing water but over time it will tighten the muddy areas and make them useable. Lastly if I have a spot that just won’t drain, I detour and let nature have it. Good luck

 

[Bmyers]

 

[DustyRusty]

Thin out the trees to let some sunlight get in, and then plant a whole lot of weeping willow trees. They can consume up to 100 gallons of water per day during the summer months. They don't like to have a lot of standing water, but if you can get some drainage and plant them on high ground they should thrive.

 

[NCL4701]

You have to figure out how to drain the water off. Whether that’s series of ditches around your trails or requires more general regrading of a large area I don’t know without walking it or looking at a topo map.

A large tree/vegetation covered flat area that doesn’t drain well is a swamp. A large open flat area that doesn’t drain well is still swamp. Merely removing or thinning the saplings isn’t likely to do much for you. You may get more water removal via evaporation but you’ll be losing water removal the saplings are doing now. Maybe you gain, maybe you lose. Regardless, it’s still wet.

We have swampy areas and about a half dozen natural springs plus two creeks. Some we have to drive through; some we can avoid. Some we can redirect via ditching to a more preferable area; some we can’t. Those we can avoid, we drive around. Those we can redirect to a creek or other established watercourse, we redirect. Those we can’t avoid or redirect, we drive through but they require some grooming and upkeep. Some just require an occasional regrade to keep them from becoming wallowed out holes. The worst one we put about three yards of scrap concrete and 6” to 10” rock in before it stabilized enough to be reasonably usable. That one was only about 10’ wide and 6’ across so it sucked up quite a bit of material before stabilizing. And if it’s a natural spring, you either provide a ditch to direct it somewhere or you avoid it completely, but you can’t stop it.

 

[Yotekiller]

Weeping willow trees will absorb a tremendous amount of ground water. My sister had a spot in her field that was always wet and you would get stuck if you ever attempted to drive anything back there. She planted one weeping willow and in no time, her wet ground issue was no more...

 

[DustyRusty]

Weeping willow trees will absorb a tremendous amount of ground water. My sister had a spot in her field that was always wet and you would get stuck if you ever attempted to drive anything back there. She planted one weeping willow and in no time, her wet ground issue was no more...

You just don't want to plant them within 75 feet of a septic leech tank or field.

 

[Sawdust&Shavings]

You just don't want to plant them within 75 feet of a septic leech tank or field.

Nor near fresh water lines

 

[The Evil Twin]

Nor near fresh water lines

Or near anything underground you don't want to replace. Lol!!

 

[D2Cat]

RWS, all ideas submitted will keep you busy and may help a bit, but just remember the challenges you are facing are the very reason the property sold at a bargain!!!!

Get some "trench wheels" for their 4 wheeler and let them have fun!

 

[Vlach7]

If you have wash/sand/road base naturally on your property to move and use that's great otherwise you will need to find it elsewhere. I used to buy 3/4" rock for $200 per 25-ton load 30 years ago. now it's about $900, so I found that a friend's property with a seasonal stream that has "good enough" road base", and with my tractor and dump trailer I make it work. Great for the low spots/mud holes.

 

[jaxs]

Correct me if I'm wrong but isn't MI almost completely surrounded by Great Lakes? When I've visited MI I got the impression that much of it is seasonal wetland. If your property has a shallow water table drying it out might be a losing battle. I agree with those recommending you start with a map of elevations of yours's and neighboring property. If map isn't precision you can buy or rent programs for cell or laptop. At best you might only be able to create trails by draining to low spots.

 

[NCL4701]

RWS, all ideas submitted will keep you busy and may help a bit, but just remember the challenges you are facing are the very reason the property sold at a bargain!!!!

Get some "trench wheels" for their 4 wheeler and let them have fun!

View attachment 125990

Yeah, even with some effort at water management I still get mud slung all over the Mule and on the hood of the tractor now and then. Nothing wrong with a little “I think we can make it through that” once in a while.

 

[North Idaho Wolfman]

To drain the land you would redirect or tile the wet areas.

Pulling / thinning trees will help.

 

[airbiscuit]

I learned long ago that water's going to go where water wants to go. Your trail needs to be higher than the adjacent wet area. Ditches and swales help redirect and capture water.

 

[RCW]

Cutting too many trees could actually cause more water problems.

In southeastern plantations decades ago, they operated on a clear cut/ re-planting cycle. Kind of like growing corn, but with longer rotations.

Was common plantations would have standing water after harvest, but after replanting would dry sites out with time.

Trees “drink” a lot of water, and may be deeper than grasses, etc.

 

[DustyRusty]

You can also crisscross the land with drainage pipes about 18" below the surface and direct it to where you want it to go.

 

[Russell King]

There is a method using subsoiler plows to provide some drainage to prevent pooling. In some places a steel “mole” is pulled along behind the plow to open up a drain.

It may be difficult to do in rocky soil.

 

[GeoHorn]

To drain the land you would redirect or tile the wet areas.

Pulling / thinning trees will help.

I don’t understand that comment….. “thinning trees”…. will not help. Trees suck up water… Thinning them will increase ground-water retention.

Some of the “thirstiest” trees are cedar, juniper, and cottonwoods…. which can pump up several hundred gallons-per-day.