What to Know Before Clearing Land Around Durant
The lakeshore is federal land. The Corps of Engineers impounded Lake Texoma
in 1944, and the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation lists Bryan, Johnston, Love and
Marshall as its Oklahoma counties. Under federal rules for Corps lakes, a private owner may cut,
prune or remove vegetation on project land only in certain shoreline areas and only under a
permit, and the permit holder marks the government property line. A deed that reads like a
lake lot can stop well short of the water, so the boundary is found before the quote is
written, and work stops at your side of it. Our
guide to clearing
cedar on Lake Texoma land covers what to check.
Durant clay holds water, then cracks. The USDA's Durant soil series, first
established in Bryan County in 1906, is a very slowly permeable clay with high
runoff even on nearly level ground. In dry spells it cracks more than a centimeter wide and
thirty inches deep. A tracked machine on that soil after a storm leaves ruts and slows down,
and bared clay sheds water fast. Leaving roots in place under a chip layer is usually the
cheaper and steadier finish, and the state's OKR10 stormwater permit applies once a job
disturbs an acre or more.
Floodplain and burning rules sit with local offices. Inside Durant, Community
Development handles floodplain determination and offers pre-development meetings on drainage.
Out in the county, the Bryan County floodplain administrator regulates development that would
affect flooding. Burn bans are passed county by county. Requirements vary by parcel, scope and
jurisdiction, and the governing authority makes the determination. The
Durant and Bryan
County permit guide sets out who to call and in what order.