Seawalls, Bulkheads & Retaining Walls
Erosion control on privately owned ground — with the easement question answered first, because inside the 265-foot contour the Corps still has to approve it.
Lakes We Serve · TX
Waterfront construction on Wright Patman Lake.
The federal reach on Wright Patman is wider than the waterline. Ground you own, mow and pay taxes on can still sit inside the Corps' flowage easement — and that changes who has to approve your wall before it is built.
The Line That Matters
The government boundary sits well back from the water.
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Fort Worth District. No river authority is involved on this lake.
The Corps holds 58,512 acres of fee land above conservation pool at Wright Patman, plus a flowage easement over roughly 78,000 acres of privately owned land. Nothing gets built on Corps land or in the water without written approval — that part surprises nobody.
The part that does surprise people: on privately owned ground inside the flowage easement — which generally runs up to the 265-foot contour — the District Engineer's prior written approval is still required. Your deed does not end the conversation. Before we design a wall or a structure on this lake, we establish where your ground stands relative to the federal boundary and that contour, because it decides whether the project needs a Corps application at all.
Organised access to the lake runs through Corps ramps and parks and the marinas at Kelly Creek, Big Creek and North Shores. The project office is at Clear Springs Park in Texarkana (903-838-8781), and it is the right first phone call for any question about what is permissible at a specific address.
220.6 ft
Winter pool, Nov 1 – Apr 1
227.5 ft
Spring and summer pool
265 ft
Flowage easement contour
58,512
Acres of federal fee land
What an Application Carries
A Corps request is a drawing package, not a form.
Requests here go in with a description of the work, detailed design plans including elevations, and a map that shows the location relative to the government boundary. Vague sketches come back.
That is not red tape for its own sake. On a lake whose working pool moves about seven vertical feet between winter and summer, elevations are the design — and the boundary map is what proves the structure sits where you say it does.
1
A written description of the work
What is being built, of what, and why — in terms the reviewer can evaluate against the shoreline rules for the lake.
2
Detailed plans, with elevations
Pile lengths, wall height, deck and walkway levels tied to the seasonal pool — 220.6 in winter, 227.5 in spring and summer — not to whatever the water is doing the day of the site visit.
3
A map against the government boundary
Location shown relative to the federal line, which is what settles whether the work is on Corps fee land, inside the easement on your ground, or clear of both.
What We Build Here
Work that fits a federal shoreline.
Bank protection on private ground, repair and rebuild of structures that already carry approval, sediment removal, and commercial work — all engineered around the seasonal pool.
Repair & Rebuild of Existing Structures
Rebuilding a permitted dock, pier or walkway within its approved footprint — the cleanest path to usable water on a Corps lake.
Precision Dredging
Access channels and slip approaches on a shallow, timbered lake, with spoil pumped to an approved placement area instead of trucked away.
Marina & Commercial Marine
Public and commercial facilities — ramps, courtesy docks and heavy structures built for traffic and for an operator's maintenance budget.
Know the Water
Shallow, timbered, and seasonally reset.
The Sulphur River, dammed at river mile 44.5 about nine miles southwest of Texarkana, across Bowie and Cass counties.
Wright Patman covers about 20,300 acres at the winter conservation pool and roughly 33,750 acres once the pool comes up to 227.5 feet in spring — a working shoreline that moves about seven vertical feet with the calendar. Everything above 227.5 is flood storage, running up to the 259.5-foot uncontrolled spillway crest.
The water is moderately turbid, with inundated timber, brush, creek channels and riprap doing the work that vegetation does elsewhere; plants cover less than ten percent of the surface. For construction that combination means real design attention to pile embedment, debris loading and the fact that a structure comfortable in July can be sitting high and dry in January.
The trade area runs from Texarkana out through Redwater, Maud, Queen City, Atlanta and Douglassville.
Questions We Hear
Wright Patman Lake FAQ.
Can I build a private boat dock on Wright Patman Lake?
That is decided by the lake's shoreline management plan and the Fort Worth District, and we are not going to tell you it is allowed before the project office says so. Call the Wright Patman project office at Clear Springs Park (903-838-8781) — or let us make that call with you — and we will design only after there is a written answer for your specific location. If a covered slip is approved, the same boathouse engineering applies as anywhere else.
I own my land. Why would the Corps have a say in my bulkhead?
Because a flowage easement runs over roughly 78,000 acres of privately owned land here, generally up to the 265-foot contour. Inside that easement the District Engineer's prior written approval is required even though the ground is yours. It is the single most-missed rule on this lake.
What does the seven-foot seasonal swing do to a design?
It sets pile length, wall height, walkway slope and how a boat is actually loaded in February versus July. Structures here get designed to the full range — winter pool at 220.6 and summer pool at 227.5 — rather than to the day we visited.
Is rebuilding an existing structure easier than starting new?
Usually, yes. Work that stays inside the footprint of a structure that already carries approval is a shorter road than a new location — and on a federal lake that difference is worth real money and months.
Does Shoretech travel to Wright Patman?
Yes. Dave travels as far as necessary for the right project, and Northeast Texas is inside Shoretech's working footprint. Call to talk through the boundary question, scope and scheduling.
Nearby Water
More lakes in this region.
Start With a Conversation
Planning a project on Wright Patman Lake?
Tell Dave where the property sits, what the bank is doing, and what you want the finished waterfront to do. We start with the boundary and the elevations, and the design follows from there.