[TN-Bird] Standifer Gap Marsh, water level

Standifer Gap Marsh, Chattanooga, Hamilton County
April 21, 2008
The water level in the main pond is an estimated 8 inches lower than usual for 
this time of the year, lowest in the last 5 or more years.  Note that we have 
had more rain in April this year than in the last few years.

There is a recent ditch running south-west from the south-west corner of the 
pond to the creek that flows north under Standifer Gap Road.  The ditch is 
about 8 inches deep and 20 inches wide, half-circle in cross section.  There 
was no water flowing in it.  There is a large new sewer manhole near the creek, 
and caterpillar tracks from SR Road to the manhole.

The large beaver lodge just west of the north-south fence appears abandoned and 
in disrepair.  The water level at the two apparent entrances barely covers the 
entrances, and the rest of the lodge looks like it is sitting on bare mud.  I 
did not see any gnawed trees or cut-off saplings around the big pond, nor any 
beavers in the big pond.

The main dam, at the west side of the main pond, rises about 8 inches above the 
water level.  Formerly the water level was up almost to the top of the dam. It 
was not possible to walk across the top of the dam because it was too soggy,- 
not any more. 

There is a good beaver dam across the big ditch that runs from the culverts to 
the main pond.  It is perhaps 200 feet south of  the gravel road.  The water 
level difference is about 10 inches.  I saw one small beaver above the dam, and 
some evidence of gnawing.  The water level between the gravel road and the 
tracks is a few inches higher than usual.

Any flooding north of the tracks could only result from blocking the culverts 
under the tracks.  There is no way the water level could rise more than an inch 
or two above the level of the main dam; the top of the dam is at least 100 feet 
long.

According to long-time residents there was a pond there years ago, some 25 
years ago it dried up and the owners put in the wooden fences.  After a few 
years it flooded again.  

There is a new sewer manhole 
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