Communities on Caddo
- Uncertain, TX
- Karnack, TX
- Jefferson, TX
- Marshall, TX
- Mooringsport, LA
- Oil City, LA
- Blanchard, LA
Lakes We Serve · TX / LA
Piers, boathouses and bank work on Caddo Lake.
Caddo is not a reservoir and it does not behave like one. There is no shoreline permit counter, the bottom is soft, the cypress are in the way — and the paperwork usually takes longer than the pile driving.
The Permitting Reality
There is no shoreline permit office on Caddo Lake.
Because Caddo is a natural lake rather than a Corps reservoir, no single agency simply says yes. This is the most tangled approval picture of any lake we serve, and it is worth a phone call before anything is drawn.
1
The Corps of Engineers, on both sides of the line
A pier, dock or boathouse is a structure in a navigable water of the United States. Texas-side work goes to Fort Worth District Regulatory; Louisiana-side work to Vicksburg District. Big Cypress Bayou from the state line in Marion County upstream sits on the Fort Worth District's navigable waters list, so Section 10 applies as well as Section 404. Residential piers are often handled under a nationwide permit — which one, and whether it fits your structure, is confirmed case by case.
2
State water quality and coastal review
On the Texas side, TCEQ Section 401 water quality certification rides along with the federal authorization. Louisiana-side work can add review by the state Office of Coastal Management where it applies. Any dredging or fill triggers Section 404 review on its own account, separately from the structure itself.
3
The levee district and the counties
The dam is owned and operated by the Caddo Levee District in Shreveport, (318) 221-2654, which is involved wherever levees or channels are. Harrison and Marion county floodplain offices permit separately on the Texas side. None of these substitute for the others.
4
Even the record disagrees on who is in charge
Texas Parks & Wildlife names the Corps of Engineers as the controlling authority for Caddo; the Texas Water Development Board names the Caddo Levee District as owner and operator. We are not going to pretend that is settled. On this lake the honest approach is to open a file with each body that could have jurisdiction over your specific site and let them tell you which of them cares.
What the Crew Actually Hits
Soft bottom, shallow water, and cypress in every direction.
Caddo is genuinely shallow — about 20 feet at its deepest, per TPWD — and almost none of it is firm ground.
The bottom is mud and organic silt. Bald cypress stand and lie throughout, with wide buttressed bases and heavy root systems, and stump fields fill much of the water between them. Aquatic vegetation covers roughly 60 percent of the lake overall and something closer to 95 percent of the Texas waters. Banks are low, wet and often boggy rather than cut. Driving pile here means working around root mass and finding competent bearing well beneath deep soft sediment — a different problem from setting pile into a firm reservoir bottom, and one that rewards a rig that can float shallow.
Water level is managed from upstream. Conservation pool sits at 168.5 ft msl with roughly four to eight feet of annual fluctuation, and releases from Ferrells Bridge Dam at Lake O' the Pines drive much of Caddo's level rather than local rainfall alone. That makes the working window on this lake partly a question of what is happening on another one.
Caddo has been a Ramsar wetland of international importance since October 1993 and holds one of the largest flooded cypress forests in the United States. Environmental review reflects that. Nothing about it makes good work impossible — it makes an accurate scope, a realistic schedule and an application that anticipates the questions worth considerably more than they are on an ordinary lake.
Around the Lake
Camps, cabins and bayou frontage.
Waterfront here is low-density and old — not subdivision lakefront. The work runs to piers, walkways and covered slips over soft bottom, plus bank protection.
Marinas, parks and refuges
- Johnson's Ranch Marina, Karnack
- Shady Glade Marina & Resort, Uncertain
- Caddo Lake State Park
- Caddo Lake National Wildlife Refuge
- Caddo Lake Wildlife Management Area
Caddo straddles Harrison and Marion counties in Texas and Caddo Parish in Louisiana, on Big Cypress Bayou in the Cypress River Basin, draining to the Red River. It was never impounded to begin with: the first dam near Mooringsport was completed in 1914, and the present dam was built by the Corps of Engineers between 1968 and 1971. Johnson's Ranch at Karnack has been a launching point since 1908 and is often called the oldest inland marina in Texas. Published acreage differs — TWDB and TPWD give 26,800 acres at conservation pool, while 25,400 acres is widely cited elsewhere — and we have found no authoritative figure for shoreline miles at all.
Scope of Work
What Shoretech builds on Caddo Lake.
Structures designed for soft bottom, shallow draft access and a review process that asks real questions.
Piers, Walkways & Slips
Long timber piers and walkways carried out over boggy bank and soft bottom to reach usable water, with pile set to bearing rather than to a hoped-for depth.
Covered Slips & Boathouses
Covered structures sized to what the Corps authorization will support, framed and roofed for the humidity and shade conditions of a cypress lake.
Bank Protection
Shoreline stabilization on low, wet banks — approaches matched to soft ground and to whatever the federal and state review will allow at your site.
Permitting Guidance
Working out which agencies have a say on your specific frontage, and in what order, before design money is spent. On Caddo that sequence is the project.
Questions We Hear
Caddo Lake FAQ.
Who approves a pier or boathouse on Caddo Lake?
There is no single shoreline permit office. A pier, dock or boathouse is a structure in a navigable water of the United States and needs Corps of Engineers authorization — Fort Worth District Regulatory on the Texas side, Vicksburg District on the Louisiana side — often under a nationwide permit, with TCEQ Section 401 water quality certification in Texas. Dredging or fill triggers Section 404 review on its own. Louisiana-side work can add the state Office of Coastal Management, and the Caddo Levee District where levees or channels are involved. Harrison and Marion county floodplain offices permit separately.
Why does driving pile cost more on Caddo than on a reservoir?
Because the bottom is mud and organic silt and competent bearing sits well below it, and because the cypress are in the way. Bald cypress here have wide buttressed bases and heavy root systems, and stump fields are extensive. Reaching sound bearing through deep soft sediment while working around root mass takes longer than setting pile into a firm reservoir bottom, and the equipment has to be able to float shallow — the lake runs only about 20 feet at its deepest.
Is Caddo Lake protected in a way that affects construction?
Yes, and it is worth planning around. Caddo has been a Ramsar wetland of international importance since October 1993 and holds one of the largest flooded cypress forests in the United States. Environmental review here is genuinely more searching than on an ordinary reservoir, and on Caddo the permitting is usually the long pole in the schedule rather than the construction. Shoretech is based in Trinity, Texas, and Dave travels as far as a project warrants across Texas and western Louisiana. Call 936-662-5100 before a design is committed.
Nearby Water
More Cypress Basin lakes.
Start With a Conversation
Planning a project on Caddo Lake?
Tell Dave where the frontage is, how far out the water gets usable, and what you want to be able to tie up. On Caddo the first job is working out who has to approve it.