"Pondscaping" for wildlife

by Pam Owen, Spring 2003

Natural ponds in Virginia are few and ephemeral. They are usually the result of beavers damming a stream, drought or flood creating temporary conditions that isolate pockets of water within wetlands, limestone subsiding, or a few other unpredictable events. These lentic (still-water) habitats tend to be rather shallow and disappear in a matter of days or months as weather conditions change, or as vegetation and soil runoff fill them in.

Ponds are more often created by people-as a reservoir of water for crops or livestock, a scenic buffer in commercial and residential areas, a hazard on a golf course, or a mandated basin to catch polluting runoff. Many people like to have their pond edges all neat and tidy like a lawn. However, lawns are basically green deserts, with little about them to attract or support wildlife. They also need lots of feeding and watering and mowing, mowing, mowing—using up resources, including time, gas, and money.

Ponds that are allowed to run wild will instead offer a dynamic ecosystem with greater diversity of native plants. These in turn attract dragonflies, bullfrogs, muskrats, painted turtles, wood ducks, wetland wildflowers, and many other native species.

Pristine ponds create a diverse habitat for native flora and fauna. Photo courtesy Pam Owen.

To let your pond go au naturale, you mostly just have to let nature take its course and stop mowing or letting livestock graze within a buffer of about 35 feet. You can always keep a couple of access points mowed for fishing, swimming, wildlife viewing, or whatever.

There is another plus to letting ponds go wild: getting rid of Canada Geese, which have gone from winter visitors to year-round freeloaders. They are not just raucous, but also pollute and take away habitat from native waterfowl. However, without a continuous buffet of tender young grass shoots coming up from a mowed lawn, a clear view of approaching predators, or space to nest, the geese will go looking for tidier habitat—like the nearest golf course. Instead of the continual honking, you can then enjoy the more subtle sounds of bullfrogs, Redwing Blackbirds, and other native species. If you like to fish, naturalized ponds offer a more diverse population of insects for fish to feed on, with cleaner water and better fish habitat in general.

Then there's just the sheer beauty of such a diverse ecosystem. Instead of a boring expanse of uniform green around your pond, think of the flowering sedges (nongrass herbaceous plants, such as reeds), herbs, wild iris, and other native plants that will be growing there.

Native cattails are also beautiful and desired by wildlife, but rip out nonnative species that can take over and fill in your pond. Willows, sycamores, and other water-loving trees will lend height and grace to your pondscape and provide a steady source of insects for the hungry fish waiting below.

Unfortunately, few good resources are available on managing ponds. One helpful book is Lakescaping for Wildlife and Water Quality, published by the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources. While it's aimed more at Midwestern lakes, most of the information is general enough to help Virginians who want to "pondscape" for wildlife. The book has loads of great photos and lists of resources, and plenty of good science as well as a sense of aesthetics. Books on wetlands are easier to come by and will provide much of the information needed to manage any lentic habitat.

The Virginia Native Plant Society (www.vnps.org) or a good nursery that offers native water-loving species can help you choose a healthy, attractive variety of native plants to add, if you want to take a more active approach to naturalizing.

So, let your pond go wild. The native wildlife will love you, and you'll get an aesthetic treasure as a bonus.

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