The cost of waterfront properties is substantially higher then non-waterfront. Of course there are advantages to being on a large lake, such as trolling for fish, water skiing, boating, sailing and a number of winter sports. So you must weigh the pros and cons of paying that extra money for lake frontage or building your own lake. Also, remember, the majority of properties that do have lake, river/creek frontage are in valleys and not on top of hills or mountains. A mountain property usually has total privacy and fantastic views. If only it had a lake! Anything is possible if you put enough cash into it, so why not buy your dream property for an affordable price and build your own lake?

Two of the biggest lakes I ever built both started as small holding ponds no more then four feet deep. The first pond was for some ducks to swim around in so my two young sons could watch them, and the other pond was built to hold trout for a few months. I originally had in mind only one to two hour projects for both ponds, intending to build them 4 feet deep and 10 feet x 10 feet in length and width.

In the end I had built a square moat around the barnyard with an island in the middle! On the island, before we dug the last bridge of dirt away, we made a big mound for a rabbit hut, complete with tunnels. It was great. I rented two pumps and they worked for three days and nights to fill the lake. My kids really enjoyed the results and had great fun with their private island and the attached small wooden bridge. The private island also protected the rabbits and ducks from any predators.

The second lake I decided to build was much larger. I used my own D6 again but hired other equipment as well. The first thing I had to do was locate a low spot in the terrain where water from the surrounding hill would run. I found a swampy area and small gullies running into this low swampy area, so I determined that this was the spot where water from the surrounding hills collected. Next I needed to know whether my lake would hold water and for how long. It would be no use building a lake and filling it and then having all the water drain out. To determine this I used a hoe and had the operator dig down as deep as possible and about a couple of buckets wide. He went down about 16 feet. I then put my two pumps to work and filled this hole with water. On the side of the hole I marked the water level by putting a stick in the side. I left this overnight and checked the level next morning. The water had gone down only a few inches so I knew the hole would contain water, especially when the sides had been in water longer and were saturated. I now knew my pond would hold water naturally and that I wouldn’t have to use a rubber liner. This would have been costly and would have made the pond much smaller.

We started in very loamy conditions, which I knew maintained water, so as we were digging down, I kept a constant watch on the sides of the hole to make sure the soil condition didn’t change. If we had hit one bucket of sand or gravel I would have stopped immediately, and that would have been the depth of my lake.

There are two reasons to go down so deep when stocking a pond with trout: one is because in winter time you need to have lots of room under the ice for the trout to maneuver, and two, in summer the top of the lake gets warm and the trout can get down to the cool water.

If you want to have trout you need a permit from the Department of Fisheries and to get this permit you have to follow their specifications for building a lake. The most important thing is to make sure that, if you are close to another waterway, none of your fish get out of the pond and no wild fish get into it. We had to do this because we built our pond right beside a large lake. We installed a large eight-inch overflow pipe to run out of the pond into a large wooden holding tank. The pipe from the lake entered the tank near the top and another eight-inch pipe went out from the top of the tank to a large ditch that drained into the lake.

When we got down as far as we wanted to go, it was time to get the machinery out and get some water in. We owned two small wayjax pumps, and we rented two more. It took just about a week to fill the lake, running the pumps constantly day and night. Once the lake was full even I was surprised at how large it really was. We have had this lake for eight years now and have never yet had to add any water to it with pumps. The winter snows replenish the lake every year and summer rain showers help to maintain the water level.

When building a pond, be sure to have natural drainage from both the snow run off and the rainfalls. If I had not been able to utilize natural run off, I would have drilled a well, put in a pump and then just let it run to create a natural waterfall over some rocks.

STEP 2 - FINDING PROPERTIES

Having more properties to choose from will better the odds of finding your dream or investment property at the right price. When looking for a property, use Realtors, the Internet, Newspapers, Magazines, Word of mouth, and "For Sale" signs.

STEP 3 - RECEIVING INFORMATION

If you are dealing with a private individual, it is advisable to do a title search. Make sure you receive the full and correct legal description on each property. Then order a title search through B.C. Online, contact a title search company or have your notary or lawyer do it for you.

STEP 6- MAPS AND AIR PHOTOS

You need the following pieces of information to get a feeling for the area and even a gut feeling price.

Vegetation Map- Formerly known as a Forest Cover Map, this map shows the forest species, age and height classes, crown closure codes, and the site index. It will also show types of terrain. These maps are available through Clover Point Cartography.

Plan-Go directly to the registry office or through a title agency and order the plan number of the property. This will give you the sizes and the measurements of the property and where the roads are.

Survey notes- While the surveyor was setting up the original corner posts to the property, he would make notes in his journal describing the trees with identifying blazes and other distinguishing features of the property. You can request these notes from the Surveyor General's office. Using these you can determine where the cornerstones of the property were originally set, and re-walk the property lines.

Agricultural land reserve map- Phone for a copy to determine if all or part of the property is in the agricultural land reserve. This will have a big bearing of what you can do with the property.

Most importantly, learn how to negotiate, or have somebody else do the negotiating for you.

STEP 9- FIELD INSPECTION EQUIPMENT

Make sure you do not forget anything. Also, the better transportation that you get, the faster you get to look at deals.

STEP 10- FINDING THE PROPERTY

Use the speedometer in your car with the pre-emption and recreational forestry maps. Closer to the property, use the forest cover and the contour maps. If you have any problems finding the property go to the local store or gas station and ask them for help. When you get to the property, look for new posts or new identification markers. If there are none, that means that you must use the old surveys.

Once you have got all the above information, you have to determine what the price of the property is. Use what is being paid most recently for similar properties as guidelines.

STEP 13- CLOSING

After viewing the property and checking, determine if this is the property you want and if you feel the price is right. Then close it or renegotiate the deal.

STEP 16- FINANCING

There is no deal that cannot be financed as long as the price is below market value. Financing options include cash, vendor takes back, financial institutions mortgage brokers, sawmills (if you have a stand of timber on your property), partners or syndications, limited partnerships, flipping the property, or a combination of all of the above.

STEP 17- DATA COMPLETION

Now if you have some time you can order air photos, original survey notes, if the property has timber, order an air photo interpretation and a timber cruise, and if in doubt of value, an appraisal.

STEP 20- IMPROVING THE PROPERTY

There are numerous things you can do to increase the value of a property. You can clear underbrush, roads, selective logging, fix up the access roads, make a pond or a building site, renovate, or build a cabin.

When purchasing air photos, try to obtain the most current photo of the property and area. Also compare the scales of the photo. A large-scale photo (ie. 1:2500) is usually taken at 4-5,000 feet, and will provide a more detailed picture, but the area covered is less then at a smaller scale. A small-scale photo (ie. 1:60,000) is taken at 30-35,000 feet and will provide a larger area, but with less detail than a large-scale photo. I recommend photos in the middle range (1:15,000) which are taken at 15-17,000 feet.

For some areas, you have the option of ordering coloured air photos. Black and white photos cost $5.90; colour photos cost $8.90.

An air photo allows you to view your property from above. Depending on what size scale you purchase you will be able to see the timber, fields, swamps, buildings, creeks, lakes, rivers, access roads, surrounding properties, and much more

86
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would designate that the piece of land in block 86 had spruce and lodgepole pine trees as the major species on the property with a few aspen trees, the trees were between 121-140 years old and were 28.5-37.4 metres tall, they were all mature, had the crown closure of 5, which means that the percentage of the ground covered by the vertically projected crowns of the trees would be 46-55 percent, and a site index of 16, which means that in about 50 years, trees in this area would be able to grow up to 26 meters above an average person's breast height.

These maps are available through Clover Point Cartography in Victoria. Each regular, waterproof map costs $10, plus shipping charges, and the maps will be shipped out to you by the next business day.

One way to determine what type of timber is on your property is to take your existing air photo and enlarge it. Compare your air photo to your forest cover map. Using a pigment liner, draw a line around each of the different stands of trees, and then determine how many acres of each type you have by using the dot system. So you might end up with four types of timber on your air photo, labeled 1, 2, 3, and 4. The maps with the types and classification will interpret air photo.

Stereoscopes can cost anywhere from $27 for a pocket device to $2000 for a desk model. Using the stereoscope and your forest cover map, mark and classify the different types of trees, then mark the fields, buildings and access roads.

Old surveyor maps

Another useful tool to help establish landmarks, or even to find your property, is the original surveyor's notes. They are the best-kept secret when looking for a piece of property. In 1874, the Federal Free Homestead Act allowed settlers to buy their homesteads from the Crown for about $1 an acre, if they cleared, fenced, and resided on the land for three years. After the homesteader found a parcel of land he wished to homestead he would request a surveyor to come out and formally define his boundaries. The surveyor would first establish the corner post and then the boundaries. He would put in four corner posts with three bearing trees for each corner post. He would also blaze the trees on all four boundaries. As he was establishing the corner posts and boundaries, he would keep very detailed notes and produce a report, including a hand-drawn map of the property. These notes are still kept in Victoria and you can request copies of them from the Surveyor General's office.

These notes can turn out to be invaluable when you go to look at your property, especially if the corner post no longer exists. Using these notes, you can determine where the corner posts of the property were originally set, and re-walk the property lines to make sure you are on the right property.

Chains are still used to measure property today, with the hip chain being my favorite tool to measure distances

Combining your map and hip chain with your air photo, you can walk directly to whatever part of a property you want to inspect. I have known people that would tie the hip chain the their car so that they could follow it back and not get lost.

Now that you are on the property and in the type 1 timber on the air photo, you do a plot. Measure out with your chain 66 feet by 132 feet and mark it. In this area, count how many trees, the species and average diameter and height. One way in which I measure height is to put my knife in the tree at the level of my head and hang my hat on it. I then stand back and estimate how many times the I could fit the distance between my knife and the ground up to the top of the tree. Since I know that I am six feet tall, I use this to determine the height of the tree. Once you have all the information in this 66 x 132 foot plot, multiply everything by five. This number will determine the average trees per acre of that type Continue this process for each of the different types on your air photo.

Second, to be more accurate on the amount of timber in your property, take your information to a sawmill close to the property and they will calculate the volume of timber for you and possibly set a price on how much it is worth.

Third, go to a forestry consulting firm with your two air photos and for a small fee, they will interpret the volume and species of timber by using a stereoscope.