Turning swamps into ponds

Overgrown ponds are finding new life through an unusual excavation process devised by a couple of former Flathead Valley loggers.

Peter Gall and Lorin Turner have formed a company called Graves Bay and are using a conventional logging yarder to excavate swamplands that once were thriving ponds.

The process is relatively simple but time consuming.

Cables span the swampland, enabling the yarder bucket to scoop out soil.

On a recent job, the company removed 30,000 yards of soil from a Columbia Heights pond, at a rate of about 700 to 800 yards a day.

"I've been running these machines for 30 years, but this puts a twist on how the equipment is used," Gall said.

"We help landowners increase the value of their land by turning a swamp into a pond.

Using the Columbia Heights job as an example, Gall explained that the once-healthy 3-acre pond had been reduced to about a quarter-acre of open water through the years. At last report, geese and ducks are nesting again at the pond, the landowner told Gall.

"Plant life grows and dies, making fantastic topsoil," he said.

"Each location is site-specific, and every site has its own challenges. If there's marketable material, we can make it real cost-effective for the landowner."

The soil contains a fair amount of peat and is screened before it's sold.

Gall said that to his knowledge, Graves Bay is the only firm doing such work in the area.

Traditionally, yarders are used to pull trees across severe terrain, and they're often used in gravel pits. The equipment often is more cost-effective than helicopters to retrieve or place material in remote sites, Gall said. He and Turner have been contacted to retrieve rock from steep ground, dismantle a bridge and place riprap in a river.

"In 30 years, we've done some challenging jobs," Gall said.

He owned Gall Logging Co. for more than 20 years, and became partners with Turner about eight years ago when the two formed Buckhorn Logging.

Neither firm still exists.

The partners work with landowners to make sure all environmental regulations are followed. The firm is insured, and no bonding is required, Gall said.

Graves Bay can be reached by cellular phone at 212-9399.

Features editor Lynnette Hintze may be reached at 758-4421 or by e-mail at lhintze@dailyinterlake.com.