I manage a summer camp facility that has a small swimming pond 120' X
240', with a maximum depth of about 10 ft. I calculate this to be
about 5 acre feet or about a million and a half gallons. We are
located in the San Bernardino Mountains, at about 6000 ft. elevation.
We have snow for about 4 or five months, and had a complete, thin ice
cover for a few weeks last winter, with some ice along the shoreline
for 3 months. I am looking for any suggestions to make the pond more
appealing.

My predecessor had been using copper sulfate in the spring as an
algaecide, and then mechanically removing the floating filament
macrophytes that would grow along the shores by the late summer. There
is a floating fountain and no emergent plants. Unfortunately our
equestrian center is directly upstream of the pond.

My current plan is to dig a small (10' X 20 ‘) inlet at the site of
greatest runoff entry and plant some sort of hearty emergent plants
like tule or sedge. I also want to plant aqautic vegetation along the
perimeter of the pond away from the swimming beach. We have a large
number of very small fish, which I suspect are mosquito larvae
predators, added by the previous maintenance staff.

I plan to add some snails and other fish, and feel that whatever
biodiversity I can manage should be beneficial to the balance in the
pond. I would like some suggestions for plant and animal species for
this area as well as any other hints on pond management. This is my
first effort at pond management, but as I really enjoy swimming in the
pond myself, I have a strong personal interest in its water quality.


Thanks
Nesdon Booth