Having a large pong built. Will the government pay a portion of it???

Question

I have a lot of farmer friends whom have had ponds built on there acrage by the government. I guess our taxes pay for this sort of thing to help with water run off and stuff. they also have built recreational ponds for a few people i know. The government would pay up to 75% of the cost or something like that. I have 5 acres and want to have a pond built and was wondering who i would need to talk to to see if im able to get some money to build it.

Answer 1

In all honesty I'm not entirely sure, but you might want to ask the local representative of the Department of Agriculture, that would be my guess as who to ask.

Answer 2

wat?

Answer 3

Mostly it depends on how your property is zoned and what you plan on using the property for.  Crop farmers, fish farmers and even vineyards are afforded subsidization of pond construction provided it meets with a number of environmental requirements and direct benefits can be proven.

The best bet is to check with the Department of Agriculture and the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) first.  Both these departments have a very strong presence on the state level and I would go there first (i.e., Montana DNR, Department of Agriculture Michigan office, etc.).

Again, you'll need to show environmental, economic, community, etc. benefits to have any real chance of garnering federal dollars for this.

The feds aren't in the business of helping you toss in a goldfish pond in your backyard.