Communities we serve here
- Leesville
- Anacoco
- New Llano
- Fort Johnson community
- Western Vernon Parish
Lakes We Serve · Vernon Parish, LA
Boat docks, piers and boathouses on Vernon Lake.
Deep, quiet pine-country water five miles west of Leesville — and one of the steadiest waterlines you will build on anywhere in Louisiana. What it does not have is a single permit office, so the agency chain gets settled first.
The Permitting Reality
Authority over Vernon Lake is split three ways — and none of the three is a dock counter.
There is no single lake permit office here. Expect to work through more than one agency, in a defined order.
Start with ownership. The State of Louisiana owns the water bottom. The Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries manages the fish and wildlife resources and holds the lake authority transferred from the abolished Anacoco Prairie Game and Fish Commission. The Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development holds authority and maintenance over the levees and associated structures under Act 270 of 1984, and operates the outlet gates. The Vernon Parish Game and Fish Commission — care of the Vernon Parish Police Jury, PO Box 1548, Leesville, LA 71446 — exists in an advisory capacity only and does not issue permits.
Because the state owns the bottom, a structure over the lakebed brings in the Louisiana State Land Office for verification of state lands and water bottoms and any right of use. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers regulates piers and fixed and floating docks under Section 10 of the Rivers and Harbors Act, and dredge and fill under Section 404 of the Clean Water Act, with Louisiana DEQ issuing the Section 401 water quality certification. The parish handles local building permits. Vernon Parish is far outside the Louisiana Coastal Zone, so no Coastal Use Permit applies.
How formal is the structures side? DOTD will not act on a lake-opening request except in writing from the Secretary of LDWF — verbal requests are not accepted. That is the tone of the whole process.
And the honest caveat: the LDWF management plan documents ownership and control clearly, but it does not set out a private construction permit process specific to Vernon Lake, and we could not verify which agency an owner actually applies to first for a private pier, boathouse or bulkhead. Confirm the current chain directly before quoting — including which Corps district holds regulatory jurisdiction over Vernon Parish, which we did not confirm. That confirmation is part of the job, and Shoretech does it in writing before a design is priced.
4,200
Surface acres
49
Miles of shoreline
53′
Maximum depth
0.5–2′
Seasonal fluctuation
Water, Dam and Soil
Deep for its size, soft-watered, and built on sand and clay.
Average depth is 23 feet — unusually deep for a 4,200-acre lake — and the bank is pine-country soil rather than rock.
Pool stage is 245.0 feet msl at the spillway crest, with a tailwater elevation of 206.0 msl. The lake holds 56,700 acre-feet at pool stage and has a maximum capacity of 99,473 acre-feet. The earthen dam runs 4,911 feet long with a 16-foot crown at elevation 257.0 msl, reaches roughly 43 feet at maximum embankment height, and is protected with stone rip-rap.
Surrounding soils are acidic, well drained and infertile — sandy loams and clays — under commercial pine plantation and mixed upland pine and hardwood forest. The water itself is soft and slightly acidic, with a mean pH around 6.4. For a contractor that adds up to a predictable picture: sand and clay to drive through rather than rock, and a chemistry worth accounting for in fastener and hardware selection on anything meant to last decades.
Why the Stability Matters
Half a foot to two feet. That is the whole annual range.
Most of this site is about designing for lakes that move — eight feet on a Louisiana drawdown lake, nine on a Texas reservoir in a dry summer. Vernon is the opposite problem, and it is a good one to have.
1
Fixed structures become the obvious answer
LDWF notes water levels here are far more stable than at Anacoco Lake eight miles downstream. With that little vertical travel, a fixed pier or dock can be set close to the water and stay right — no long hinged gangway, no float system compensating for a lake that disappears every August.
2
Bank work holds its line
A bulkhead or retaining wall on a stable lake faces a narrow, repeatable wetting band instead of a shoreline that migrates through eight vertical feet each year. The design problem becomes soil and drainage rather than cyclical exposure.
3
Drawdowns here are events, not seasons
When one is ordered, the lake can be lowered about four inches per day with the two 6-by-6-foot gates opened to maximum height. The last drawdown for vegetation control was in 1980; the lake was also lowered in 1985 to build the spillway channel retaining wall and again in 2008 to 2009 for spillway repairs. Plan for decades between them, not months.
Around the Lake
Parish ramps, old bridge spans, and camps on 40 percent of the shore.
Landings, docks and piers
- Spillway Park landing
- Hickory Ridge landing
- Bivens landing
- Old US 171 bridge piers
- Spillway Park fishing pier
- 12+ miles of marked boat lanes
Vernon Lake sits on Anacoco Creek — also called Anacoco Bayou, with east and west forks as its tributaries — in a watershed that is an eastern tributary of the Sabine River basin. It was formed in 1963 under Act 277 of the 1948 Legislature, which established the Anacoco Prairie Game and Fish Preserve and set aside some 5,379 acres for recreational waters and lands. There are eight boat ramps in all: five publicly owned and maintained by parish authorities, two private with launch fees, and one private requiring annual membership. Four boat docks are attached to public ramps — Spillway Park landing on the east side, Hickory Ridge and Bivens landings on the west. Two public fishing piers stand on the east side where US Highway 171 crosses the east fork: the north and south spans of the old US 171 bridge were left standing and serve as piers, and a fishing pier was built at Spillway Park in 2009. There are no state or federally owned parks or facilities on Vernon Lake.
What We Build Here
Full-scope waterfront work on Vernon Lake.
Shoretech is based in Trinity, Texas and serves waterfronts across Texas and western Louisiana. Vernon Lake is inside that footprint.
Boat Docks & Fishing Piers
Fixed piers and docks set to a waterline that actually stays put, driven into sand and clay rather than rock.
Custom Boathouses
Covered slips and boathouses for camps and homes — designed for deep, stable water and the pine-country weather that comes with it.
Bulkheads & Retaining Walls
Bank stabilization on acidic, well-drained sandy loams and clays, with hardware selected for soft, slightly acidic water.
Precision Dredging
Slip and access dredging under Section 404 and the state's water-bottom rules, with material pumped for backfill reuse rather than trucked away.
About 40 percent of Vernon Lake's 49 miles of shoreline is developed with homes and camps, and LDWF records numerous private docks, piers and boathouses around the lake — figures from a management plan last updated in May 2016, so the developed share may well have moved since. Because there are no state or federal facilities here, the private waterfront is essentially the whole story on this lake.
Questions We Hear
Vernon Lake FAQ.
Who do I apply to for a dock permit on Vernon Lake?
There is no single lake permit office, and an owner should expect to work through more than one agency. The State of Louisiana owns the water bottom, so a structure over the lakebed brings in the Louisiana State Land Office for verification of state lands and water bottoms and any right of use. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers regulates piers and fixed and floating docks under Section 10 of the Rivers and Harbors Act and dredge and fill under Section 404 of the Clean Water Act, with Louisiana DEQ issuing the Section 401 water quality certification. LDWF holds the lake authority for fish and wildlife purposes, and the parish handles local building permits.
What about the Vernon Parish Game and Fish Commission?
It exists in an advisory capacity only and does not issue permits. Its address is care of the Vernon Parish Police Jury, PO Box 1548, Leesville, LA 71446. Separately, the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development holds authority and maintenance over the levees and associated structures under Act 270 of 1984 and operates the outlet gates — and will not act on a lake-opening request except in writing from the Secretary of LDWF. Verbal requests are not accepted, which gives a fair sense of how formal that side of the process is.
How stable is the water level on Vernon Lake?
Remarkably stable. Pool stage is 245.0 feet msl at the spillway crest, and natural seasonal fluctuation is only 0.5 to 2.0 feet. LDWF specifically notes that levels here are far more stable than at Anacoco Lake eight miles downstream. For fixed structures that is a real advantage — design is straightforward compared with a drawdown lake, and deck elevations can be set close to the water without gambling.
Has Vernon Lake ever been drawn down?
Rarely. When a drawdown is ordered the lake can be lowered about four inches per day with the two 6-by-6-foot gates opened to maximum height. The last drawdown for vegetation control was in 1980. The lake was also drawn down in 1985 to build the spillway channel retaining wall, and again in 2008 to 2009 for spillway repairs. A structure here does not have to survive an annual dewatering cycle the way one on a managed drawdown lake does.
Does Shoretech work on Vernon Lake?
Vernon Lake is inside Shoretech's service area, which covers Texas and western Louisiana. Dave is based in Trinity and travels as far as a project warrants. Call 936-662-5100 to talk through access, the agency chain and what you want built.
Nearby Water
More western Louisiana water.
Start With a Conversation
Planning a project on Vernon Lake?
Tell Dave where your camp or home sits, how the bank falls to the water, and what you want to be able to do there. On a lake this steady, the design gets simpler — it is the agency chain that takes the legwork, and that is work we do first.