I've desinged a few ponds... one thing you should also look into is how much evaporation/seepage you will incure in the summer. Just a guess, but I'll bet the water level will drop about 1.5-2' total over the warm months. Thats a lot of water to pump out of the ground to fill up your pond. Your well could go dry trying to keep up... That amounts to roughly 3-5gal per min to keep it full.
I would try and build a pond where natural runoff can be collected to help keep it full.
Alpinecrick... What permits did you have to pull to 'restore' a beaver pond? I'm assuming it was in Waters of the US? Did you have to go throgh the Army Corp? I'll bet that was a fun time.
