# Acreage and Fence Line Clearing in Lucas, TX > Land clearing in Lucas, TX, where burn permits ended in 2015 and bois d'arc, hackberry, cedar and cottonwood are protected. Acreage and fence lines. URL: https://homesteadlandclearingfrisco.com/service-areas/lucas/ Lucas shuts two doors that are open in many nearby towns. The City stopped issuing burn permits in 2015, and its tree conservation article protects species that some neighbors exempt, including bois d'arc, hackberry, eastern red cedar and cottonwood. For land clearing in Lucas, TX, that changes both ends of the job: which trees may be cut, and what happens to the wood. [Homestead Land Clearing](https://homesteadlandclearingfrisco.com/) plans Lucas work around those two rules before anything else. ## The two Lucas rules that shape a scope **Burning is effectively off the table.** Lucas Fire-Rescue explains that the City discontinued burn permits once it learned Collin County sits in an ozone nonattainment area. What remains is a pile no more than 3 feet across and 2 feet high, of firewood or branches grown on the property, constantly attended, 25 feet from the property line, not under a canopy, and never during a county burn ban. A fence line or a wooded acre produces far more than that, so the debris plan is [mulching or hauling](https://homesteadlandclearingfrisco.com/land-clearing-debris-removal/). Lucas has also been a Firewise Community since January 2013, a program built around managing brush and fuel near homes. The [burning guide](https://homesteadlandclearingfrisco.com/guide/burning-brush-collin-denton-county/) covers the county layer. **The protected list is broad.** Lucas's article (Ordinance 2007-08-00601) states one of its purposes is to "prohibit the indiscriminate clearing of property." A tree removal and site clearing permit is required before any protected tree comes down. The protected large trees include pecan, bois d'arc, sugar hackberry, eastern red cedar, cottonwood, American elm, black walnut, Shumard oak, black willow and box elder, with survey thresholds of 4.5 inches for large trees and 2 inches for small ones. Penalties run $100 to $500 per caliper inch, or replacement at twice the removed caliper. As an illustration of how that rule scales, a single 12-inch bois d'arc cut without a permit would call for 24 caliper inches of replacement trees. **Exemptions decide most acreage jobs.** Property zoned agricultural and actively farmed is exempt, and so is a homesteaded residence. Owners of AG-zoned pasture often have more freedom than the protected list suggests, while a non-farmed tract being developed needs the permit. The [ag valuation guide](https://homesteadlandclearingfrisco.com/guide/ag-exemption-and-land-clearing/) covers the separate tax side of a change of use. ## Mulch or haul: the Lucas debris decision With burning ruled out, every Lucas scope picks between leaving material on the ground and taking it away. Mulching keeps the cost of trucking off the job and leaves a cover layer, but a deep mat of shredded cedar is not what a homesite pad or a hay field wants. Hauling leaves clean ground and adds loading, trucking and disposal. North Texas Municipal Water District publishes its disposal rates: $80 per ton at its transfer stations and $52 per ton at the 121 Regional Disposal Facility, each with a one-ton minimum. Disposal is billed by the ton, so heavy green trunks, not just pile size, drive that line. Mixed plans are common on acreage: mulch the brush in a back pasture, haul the trunks and stumps from the area where a barn or house will go. The written scope says which area gets which finish. ## How a Lucas job usually runs 1. **Walk the property:** boundaries, trees to keep by species, slopes, wet spots, fences, and what is buried or overhead. 2. **Check the rules for that address:** zoning and exemption status, the tree permit and marking inspection, debris options, creek limits and Texas811. 3. **Write the scope:** method, finish level, stumps, the mulch-or-haul plan and erosion control, in writing, before a price. 4. **Clear and hand off** at the agreed finish. On a development tract, step two includes the tree protection management conference Lucas holds after plat or site plan approval, when the City verifies the marked trees. The code allows up to two weeks for that check, so [clearing land to build a house](https://homesteadlandclearingfrisco.com/guide/clearing-land-to-build-a-house/) in Lucas starts with the calendar. ## Reading Lucas land Lucas is acreage country rather than a subdivision boom: Census counted 30 single-family permits in 2024 and 44 the year after. The typical job is not a new subdivision but a fence line, a pasture going to brush or a wooded corner of a large residential lot. Bois d'arc and hackberry fencerows are classic Blackland Prairie growth, and in Lucas they are also protected species, so [fence line clearing](https://homesteadlandclearingfrisco.com/fence-line-clearing/) often becomes [selective clearing](https://homesteadlandclearingfrisco.com/selective-clearing/): the cedar and small brush go, the large protected stems are flagged and kept or permitted. The ground is mostly Houston Black clay in USDA NRCS data, with severely eroded Ferris-Heiden clay on 5 to 12 percent slopes and eroded Altoga silty clay in places. On those slopes, [forestry mulching](https://homesteadlandclearingfrisco.com/forestry-mulching/) has an advantage beyond debris: the shredded layer stays on the soil and slows runoff. The [mulching versus clearing guide](https://homesteadlandclearingfrisco.com/guide/forestry-mulching-vs-land-clearing/) explains the trade-off. Lavon Lake borders Lucas to the east, and shoreline land there is managed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Rules for clearing near the Corps boundary at Lavon were not researched for this page, so a lake-side property's boundary and any Corps requirements are confirmed before cutting. Clearing that disturbs an acre or more also falls under TCEQ's construction stormwater permit. ## Services for Lucas properties - [Pasture clearing](https://homesteadlandclearingfrisco.com/pasture-clearing/) and acreage mowing on AG-zoned land. - [Brush clearing](https://homesteadlandclearingfrisco.com/brush-clearing/) for cedar and understory, with protected trees marked first. - [Lot clearing](https://homesteadlandclearingfrisco.com/lot-clearing/) for a home site after the permit and marking steps. A [quote that names the permit and debris steps](https://homesteadlandclearingfrisco.com/guide/what-a-land-clearing-quote-should-include/) matters more in Lucas than almost anywhere nearby. [Get in touch](https://homesteadlandclearingfrisco.com/contact/) with the address to begin. ## Frequently asked questions ### Why can't I get a burn permit for clearing debris in Lucas? Lucas stopped issuing burn permits in 2015, when the City learned Collin County is in an ozone nonattainment area. Outdoor burning is now limited to small attended piles no more than 3 feet across and 2 feet high, of firewood or branches grown on the property. Clearing debris beyond that is mulched, ground or hauled. ### Are bois d'arc and hackberry protected trees in Lucas? Yes. Lucas's tree conservation article lists bois d'arc, sugar hackberry, eastern red cedar and cottonwood among its protected large trees, along with pecan, American elm, black walnut, Shumard oak, black willow and box elder. Several nearby towns exempt some of those species, so Lucas fence lines are not a simple brush job. ### What is the penalty for removing a protected tree in Lucas without a permit? Lucas sets a civil penalty of $100 to $500 per caliper inch removed, or replacement at twice the removed caliper, with replacement trees at least 3 inches. On a fence line of mature bois d'arc and pecan, those inches add up quickly, which is why the permit comes before the saw. ### Does the Lucas tree permit apply to farmed land or my homestead? The article exempts property zoned agricultural and actively farmed, and a homesteaded residence. Land outside those exemptions needs a tree removal and site clearing permit before any protected tree is removed. Whether a specific tract qualifies is confirmed with Lucas planning staff before work starts. ### How long does the Lucas tree marking inspection take before clearing? After plat or site plan approval and before any clearing, Lucas holds a tree protection management conference and verifies the trees marked for protection, a step the code allows up to two weeks for. That time belongs in the schedule ahead of the clearing date.