Site Prep
We get a bare lot ready to build on, with the basement dug and the house pad graded. We also install sewer and water lines and dig ponds.
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Pond digging brings new open water to rural land and acreage. Wolf Creek Dirt Works digs wildlife ponds and fish ponds, big and small, around Sturgeon Lake. Farm ponds and recreation ponds are part of the work too. Every new pond starts with one question: where will its water come from?
A pond can be dug on its own or as part of site preparation for a new home. We work for landowners and builders across the area. Call or text (218) 820-9653, and we put a free estimate in writing.
Tell us about the job and where the property is. We look at it and put your free estimate in writing.
Pond excavation starts with the water. The DNR says a pond dug in upland ground can work where the groundwater table is high. It can also work where the land draining into it is big enough to keep water in it. We look at both on your land before the dig.
Before the dig, Minnesota law has the excavator notify Gopher State One Call at least 48 hours ahead. The utilities then mark their buried lines. Once digging starts, the top 6 to 12 inches is usually black topsoil, and it goes in its own pile.
The rest of the dirt is called spoil. It gets spread out on upland ground or hauled off, away from the pond basin. Then the slopes get graded, and the saved topsoil goes back over the dug bottom. Disturbed ground gets seeded, and a rock edge can go along the shore where you want one.
A wildlife pond stays shallow. The DNR's pond guide says a waterfowl dugout should be no more than 4 feet deep when full. By mid-summer, much of it should be under 3 feet. The guide calls for slopes of 10 to 1 or flatter, ten feet across for every foot down.
For ducks, the guide suggests at least 2,500 square feet, about 50 feet on a side. Larger ponds with uneven shorelines are preferred. Two small dugouts spaced 100 to 300 feet apart get more use than one big one. For nesting ducks, other wetlands should lie within half a mile.
A fish pond needs deep water so oxygen lasts the winter under ice. A DNR fisheries guide says at least 25 percent of a northern pond should be 14 feet deep or more. For sunfish and bass, it calls for at least half an acre of surface area. In a wetland, digging that deep can fall under the Wetland Conservation Act.
Most rural ground around Sturgeon Lake is either fast-draining sand or wet till and peat. The federal soil survey rates Grayling sand, the main soil at Sturgeon Lake, excessively drained. Water leaves that sand fast, so a pond there holds water where the dig reaches groundwater.
Peat hollows sit wet. The soil survey rates Rifle peat, found in low spots around here, very poorly drained. Water sits near its surface much of the year, and a wet hollow may be a protected wetland. The lot decides where the pond goes.
The ground here freezes roughly November to April, and excavation slows in winter. Spring projects get planned in February and March. Carlton County's erosion fact sheet names late summer, mid-August to mid-September, as the best time to seed in Minnesota.
Call or text for a written quote. We work about 50 miles around Sturgeon Lake across Pine, Carlton, Kanabec, Aitkin and St. Louis Counties.
(218) 820-9653From the first call or text to the finished work, here is how it goes.
Call or text (218) 820-9653 and tell us about the job. Let us know where the land is and what you plan to build.
We come out and look over the land and the work you want done. Wet ground and thick woods both change the plan, so we see them first.
We put a free estimate in writing for the work. You read it over and decide when you are ready.
Before any digging, a locate ticket goes in through Gopher State One Call (811). Septic work waits for the designer's plan and the permit.
We do the work with heavy equipment and clean up the debris at the end. Then the site is ready for the next trade, like the builder or the paving company.
Common questions about pond digging around Sturgeon Lake and the surrounding counties. If yours is not here, call or text and ask.
We get a bare lot ready to build on, with the basement dug and the house pad graded. We also install sewer and water lines and dig ponds.
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We clear trees, brush, stumps and rocks from building sites and acreage. We can also mulch the trees we remove.
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We dig full basements and walkouts for new homes, plus crawlspaces and frost footings. Dirt from the dig stays on the lot for the grade or gets hauled off.
Learn MoreSite prep, land clearing, septic systems, demolition and driveways all come from us. You deal with one company for the dirt work.
We look at the land and the job before we price it. Then you get a free estimate in writing.
Our service area reaches about 50 miles around Sturgeon Lake. It covers Pine, Carlton, Kanabec, Aitkin and St. Louis Counties.
Tell us where the land is and what you want done on it. Call or text (218) 820-9653 or send the form, and we set up a time to look at the job.
Tell us about the job and where the property is. We look at it and put your free estimate in writing.
