Lewisville, at first glance, is a typical Texas suburb. Wedged in the northwest corner of the Dallas metroplex, the 113,000-person city encompasses a little triangle bordered by a six-lane state toll road and an interstate highway. A small downtown with shops and cafes surrounds the intersection of Church and Mill Streets. There are broad streets, ranch homes, and tidy cul-de-sacs. Until recently, almost every yard in sight was watered and trimmed to maintain a lush appearance. Like so many communities, Lewisville has been an ode to the American lawn: manicured and mowed green grass.

That reputation may be changing soon. In recent months, Lewisville has begun taking steps to transform the city from a sprawling suburb to a wildlife haven. Starting in 2019, city workers began ripping Bermuda grass out of the medians and replacing it with wildflowers. The city’s parks department hosts free workshops that help residents transform their lawns into monarch way stations. Last year, voters even approved a change to the city’s code that will allow native species to flourish on private lawns. It’s all part of a long-term vision to reimagine Lewisville’s natural spaces, and potentially the American lawn. A quarter acre at a time.

When TJ Gilmore, Lewisville’s mayor, first got into politics in 2011, he noticed that there wasn’t a lot of talk about what Lewisville wanted to be when it grew up. After a period of growth in the nineties, the town had settled into its identity as a staid, first-ring suburb and didn’t seem to be looking ahead. “I ran on the idea that we needed a plan,” Gilmore said.

As part of the process of developing a ten-year vision, Gilmore recognized that Lewisville needed to do more to distinguish itself from other North Texas cities. In 2013, a consulting firm had completed a series of surveys that showed the town’s residents wanted more accessible park spaces and a stronger culture of sustainability and healthy living.

One of the unique aspects of Lewisville is the amount of open space it manages: more than four thousand acres, most of it made up of a nature preserve that backs up to Lewisville Lake. Until the last decade or so, the open space was used mainly by a small group of hikers and other nature enthusiasts.

During the planning process, Gilmore and city staff began to rethink how they could use that open space and make the city more environmentally friendly. It wasn’t long before the idea of emphasizing native plants took hold. Part of that logic was financial—native plants would save the city money. Plants that are specifically adapted to the local environment root more deeply, require less water, and are better equipped to handle the extreme temperature swings North Texas experiences. Gilmore, who grew up in Arizona, was familiar with the concept of water scarcity.

But as the city partnered with local environmental groups, the initiative snowballed. Soon the city parks department and Friends of LLELA, a local environmental nonprofit, were building demonstration gardens in neighborhood parks, constructing three new environmental education buildings in the nature preserve, and engaging in prairie restoration studies with the University of North Texas. In December, Lewisville adopted new codes that allow residents to plant native prairie grasses in their yard that grow much higher than turf grass. (In some communities, these would be preempted by HOA rules, but most Lewisville residents don’t live in HOA-managed neighborhoods.) The most recent step, which began February 25, is a pilot program that will teach Lewisville homeowners how to transform their yards into certified pollinator and native plant habitats.

Gilmore sees all these changes as an opportunity to position Lewisville as a leader in moving residents away from green monoculture.

“We’re not going to mandate pulling out your lawn and putting in gravel,” Gilmore said. “But if I’m proud of Texas and I want to wear the big belt buckle, you have to be proud of everything. Including the prairie.”

Manicured green lawns have a cultural undertow going back to the landed gentry model, when a wealthy, British landlord class lived off rental income. According to a gardening book from 1837, “If there are lawns or grass walks, they should be frequently . . . mowed and rolled . . . to give the whole a neat, regular, carpet-like appearance.” This ideal was repackaged as a demonstration of wealth and imported to the United States with little regard for native landscapes, temperatures, or rainfall patterns. Today, we water grass in the desert, an approach that is becoming increasingly expensive and time-consuming as climate change exacerbates drought, heat, and extreme temperature swings.

When Cindy Derrick and her husband, Joe, bought their house in Lewisville, they inherited such a lawn. The small property had patchy grass and a few trees planted by developers. For years, Cindy endeavored to improve her yard and plant a garden. When her stepson was severely injured in a car accident, she began working full-time as a caregiver. Periodically, when she could get away for a few minutes, she would step out into the backyard and work on her garden—pulling weeds and watering flowers and veggies. The work centered her.

“When I was able to get out in the yard, that’s when I went to talk to God,” Derrick said. “It helps you through it.”

As time went by, she began tearing up the grass, cutting down nonnative trees, and planting native flowers that provide nectar for pollinators in what she calls the “death strip” between the sidewalk and the road. With help from a gardener friend, Derrick replaced her St. Augustine grass with native plants like milkweed, turk’s cap, bee balm, black-eyed Susan, and desert willow. She planted Mexican mint marigold and watched its blooms predict the first frost every year. Her efforts paid off, as the yard started attracting more wildlife. Earthworms showed up, then birds, lizards, and rabbits. She switched to the front yard. Before long, students from the Catholic school down her street started coming by to look at the flowers.

“I just wanted to create something that looked like it belonged around a farmhouse,” Derrick said. “I like flowers better than I like grass.”

Derrick turned to her lawn as a place of release, not because city codes or pollinator workshops convinced her to do so. But her lawn, all one thousand square feet of it, seems to sit at the center of a statewide zeitgeist in which Texans are realizing, seemingly all at once, that you can bring the beauty of the natural world to your front yard.

The emotional draw of a green lawn has endured. Even in Lewisville, some community members complained online about overgrown yards. More than one resident has called them an eyesore, a potential habitat for snakes and other dangerous critters, or criticized the city for inconsistent code enforcement. “Think code compliance would enforce their own rules! I saw a 4ft snake!” Wayne Christian wrote in the Citizens of Lewisville Facebook group in September. “If a homeowner let there [sic] grass get that tall! Wonder what would happen!” Across North Texas, many homeowner associations and town codes still ban grass higher than a few inches, even though native prairie grasses easily grow (and thrive) at seven feet tall.

But in the past decade, Texans’ mindsets seem to be shifting. In 2013, the Legislature passed Senate Bill 198, which prevented HOAs from prohibiting drought-resistant landscaping. Neighborhood garden centers have begun stocking native plants in greater abundance. Native Plant Society of Texas memberships have proliferated throughout the state; the nonprofit now has 3,908 members, up from 1,771 in 2012.

In recent years, the nonprofit’s volunteer-run native plant sales have become immensely popular. “Last spring our Williamson County plant sale sold out of native plants, got more, and then sold out again,” said Meg Inglis, the executive director of the Native Plant Society of Texas.

Inglis attributes some of the increased enthusiasm around native plants to extreme weather events, like 2021’s deep freeze, which many nonnative species didn’t survive. Education has also played a role. Research driven in part by Doug Tallamy, a professor of agriculture and natural resources at the University of Delaware, has helped illustrate the power of native plants in an ecosystem, identifying key trees and plants that host dozens of species, which in turn feed birds and earthworms.

There’s also growing recognition that native plants need not always look wild and unruly, nor do they have to be expensive. According to Andrea DeLong-Amaya, the director of horticulture at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center in Austin, if a homeowner prefers the look of a manicured English garden, they can achieve that. Native plants, too, can be pruned and sheared while still providing myriad ecosystem benefits that a plant from Australia or Hawaii might not. Native plant seeds can even (with permission) be foraged in natural areas and propagated.

“The more native plants you use, the better it’s going to be for habitat,” DeLong-Amaya said. “More and more, our culture is less connected with the natural world. Plants are the foundation of that.”

In the most eco-utopian vision of the native plant movement, there’s an idea that Texas could be rewilded, quarter acre by quarter acre. Studies have shown that urban areas can be an effective habitat for many species—sometimes more effective than rural, agricultural regions, which may have more open space but are filled with monoculture crops, such as cotton and corn, that host fewer species.

Still, it’s unlikely that we are going to restore a pristine native prairie ecosystem. For Texans untrained in horticulture or botany, it may not always even be evident what is supposed to be there and what isn’t. Pesticide use, habitat destruction, and climate change will continue to contribute to biodiversity loss. There is no magic bullet.

Gardening is on the rise, however, with 18 million Americans taking up the hobby for the first time in 2020, according to the National Gardening Survey. As more gardeners fill yards and apartment complexes with native plants, it’s possible cities could begin to create healthier wildlife corridors. Lewisville, one small change at a time, one yard at a time, may be undergoing that transformation. Derrick’s yard will be one piece of the puzzle.

Derrick still doesn’t know if she and her husband will stay in Lewisville permanently. She recently had hip surgery, and is slowing down a little at age 74. But for now, she’ll be out in the garden.

“I’ll be out here in my walker,” Derrick said. “As long as I’m able, I’ll keep going.”

Update: This story has been updated with clarification from the district.

Lewisville school officials will hire a “neutral third party” to review allegations about racial discrimination that arose after a 13-year-old girl who thought she overheard a threat was punished.

The middle schooler said she overheard a classmate tell another boy not to come to campus the next day. The teen talked with friends and then her mother about what she heard. Administrators wanted to kick the young girl — who is Black — out of school for making a false accusation about school safety, according to an account of the girl’s experience The Dallas Morning News reported earlier this month.

Related:How a Texas girl scared of school shootings was punished

Asked who would be investigating and how much they would be paid, Lewisville ISD spokeswoman Amanda Brim said many details are yet to be determined. The probe will “fully investigate allegations of racial discrimination,” she noted.

“A thorough investigation into claims of racial discrimination will take place,” Brim said. “Because the investigation has not yet begun, it would not be appropriate to speculate on what will be reviewed.”

Chantell Upshaw, Lewisville’s chief of middle schools, wrote to Lakeview Middle School families in a Wednesday email updating them on the situation, while noting officials were limited in what they could say because of federal privacy laws.

Upshaw wrote that “it is important for me to address the claim that the situation was racially motivated.”

“In light of a recently submitted grievance related to this situation, which formally alleges racial discrimination, the district is hiring a neutral third party with no connection to the district to review this situation,” she wrote. “We will communicate further with you once that investigation is finalized.”

Related:How a Texas district’s reaction to school shooting fears highlights discipline concerns

The News is not naming the girl because she is a minor.

The girl said she was in gym class when she heard a classmate say, “Don’t come to school tomorrow.” After school let out, she messaged friends in two group chats before reporting the situation to her mother, Lisa Youngblood.

The Lakeview administration quickly got wind of the situation when it happened in late January, and called Youngblood to hear her daughter’s account. Police investigated the matter that evening and determined there was no threat to campus safety.

But because of how the girl processed her fears — telling her friends in group messages instead of immediately reporting it to an adult at school or through the anonymous tip reporting system — the administration disciplined her. She was punished for making a false accusation about school safety.

She was initially given three days of suspension, followed by a 73-day assignment to alternative school. Lakeview Assistant Principal Sharla Samples said the girl’s action had a “great impact.”

“Several people were scared about the safety of the school because her messages started spreading. Communication had to be sent out to the whole school community … which in itself worried some parents,” the administrator is heard saying in a recording of a discipline hearing obtained by The News.

Shocked at the severity of the discipline, Youngblood twice appealed the decision. She won, and her daughter was recently allowed to return to Lakeview.

As part of her appeal, Youngblood also probed the racial disparities in Lewisville ISD discipline.

Black students represent 12% of Lewisville’s student population, but nearly one-third of alternative school placements involved Black students last school year.

Youngblood has since filed a formal complaint against the school administrators.

Upshaw’s email to families pushed back on the idea the girl was punished for reporting.

“Please reinforce with your children — if you see something, immediately say something to a trusted adult,” she wrote. “We routinely praise students for coming forward with a concern, even if after a thorough investigation it is determined no threat existed.”

The DMN Education Lab deepens the coverage and conversation about urgent education issues critical to the future of North Texas.

The DMN Education Lab is a community-funded journalism initiative, with support from Bobby and Lottye Lyle, Communities Foundation of Texas, The Dallas Foundation, Dallas Regional Chamber, Deedie Rose, Garrett and Cecilia Boone, The Meadows Foundation, The Murrell Foundation, Solutions Journalism Network, Southern Methodist University, Sydney Smith Hicks and the University of Texas at Dallas. The Dallas Morning News retains full editorial control of the Education Lab’s journalism.

Texas is home to thousands of lakes, ponds, and other waterways, some man-made and some natural. These amazing places are often important recreational and civic resources, making them essential to the long-term viability of a region. Today, we are going to learn about one of the largest lakes in Texas, Lewisville Lake. This reservoir has been around for nearly 100 years and continues to be an important feature of the landscape. Let’s get started and discover: How deep is Lake Lewisville in Texas?

The Depth and Size of Lewisville Lake in Texas

Lewisville Lake is a large man-made lake (reservoir) located in the northern part of Texas, in the United States. The lake has a maximum length of 11 miles (18 kilometers), a maximum width of 4.24 miles (6.82 kilometers), and a surface area of 29,592 acres. This makes Lewisville Lake one of the largest lakes in Texas. It covers an area roughly that of the city of San Francisco.

The maximum depth of Lewisville Lake is 67 feet (20 meters), which is about the height of a six-story building. The lake has a water volume of 555,000 acre-feet, which is equivalent to about 723 billion gallons of water. This is enough water to cover an area of 29,592 acres to a depth of one foot.

The surface elevation of Lewisville Lake is 522 feet (159 meters) above sea level, which is higher than the surrounding terrain. This makes the lake a popular spot for recreational activities such as boating, fishing, and water sports.

Where is Lewisville Lake?

Lewisville Lake is located in North Texas, in the United States. It sits on the Elm Fork of the Trinity River in Denton County, near the city of Lewisville. The lake is conveniently located in the heart of North Texas, nearly in the middle and to the north of the Dallas-Fort Worth metropolitan area.

One of the nearby points of interest is Lake Ray Roberts, located north of Lewisville Lake. The Lewisville Lake Environmental Learning Area (LLELA) Nature Preserve is situated to the south of the lake. Lewisville, the city after which the lake is named, is found to the south and western shore of the lake.

The History of Lewisville Lake

Lewisville Lake in Texas has a rich history, dating back to the early 20th century. The W.E. Callahan Construction Company finished the Garza Dam in 1927, creating Lake Dallas. This dam was 10,890 feet long and had a 567-foot service spillway. It also had a capacity of 194,000 acre-feet, with around 43 miles of shoreline. It served as the primary water source for the city of Dallas for 31 years.

However, in the 1940s, it became clear that the region needed increased water storage capabilities and more flood control for the wet seasons. Congress passed the Rivers and Harbors Act of 1945, which began the construction of the project in the Trinity River basin. Engineers worked on the Garza-Little Elm Dam between 1948 and 1954. The super-structure combined Lake Dallas, Hickory Creek, and Little Elm Creek into one.

At 32,888 feet long, the Lewisville Dam was officially completed in 1955, and the Garza Dam was subsequently released in 1957 to create the new lake, which was named the Garza-Little Elm Reservoir. The Garza-Little Elm Reservoir would eventually be renamed Lewisville Lake, which is what it is known as today.

During later construction, workers stumbled upon an archaeological site and found ancient artifacts dating to Paleo-Indian people groups from 36,000 B.P. (before present). Although later studies in 1978 concluded that the original dating was contaminated, and an updated date of c. 12,000 B.P. was subsequently used.

The Wildlife of Lewisville Lake

Lewisville Lake is home to a diverse population of fish and other aquatic wildlife.

The lake is known for its abundance of largemouth bass, which is the most popular fish in Texas. Spotted bass and white and hybrid striped bass are also found in the lake. White crappie is also a predominant fish species in the lake and provides the most fishing activity by the numbers.

The lake is also home to excellent blue and channel catfish fisheries. The lake’s shoreline and some coves provide small stands of pondweed that can support the fish’s prime habitat. Anglers can also enjoy targeting hybrid striped bass, which is periodically stocked by the TPWD (Texas Parks and Wildlife Department) to provide more sport fish.

Unfortunately, the lake (along with many others in Texas) is suffering from an invasive species, the zebra mussel. Boaters are warned to take extra precautions before traveling to other water bodies by thoroughly cleaning, draining, and drying their boats, trailers, live wells, and other gear to prevent the spread of these mussels. These mussels are harmful to native aquatic ecosystems because they reproduce rapidly and can outcompete native species for food and habitat. They also filter large amounts of water, which can disrupt the food web and change the water chemistry in ways that are detrimental to native species. Additionally, zebra mussels can cause significant economic damage by clogging water intake pipes at power plants, municipal water treatment facilities, and industrial facilities, which is the prime reason that Lewisville Lake exists in the first place.

LEWISVILLE, Texas, March 14, 2023--(BUSINESS WIRE)--CareView Communications, Inc. ("CareView" or the "Company") (OTCQB: CRVW), an information technology provider to the healthcare industry, has been awarded a contract for its CareView Patient Safety System®, a solution for telesitting and virtual nursing, with Vizient, Inc., the nation’s largest health care performance improvement company. Vizient’s diverse membership and customer base includes academic medical centers, pediatric facilities, community hospitals, integrated health delivery networks, and non-acute health care providers, and represents more than $130 billion in annual purchasing volume.

The multi-year agreement allows Vizient members the opportunity to benefit from pre-negotiated pricing for CareView products.

"We are excited to provide a comprehensive patient safety and virtual care solution through this new agreement with Vizient, especially at a time when nurses and caregivers are being asked to do so much more with much fewer resources," said Steve Johnson, CareView’s CEO. "CareView’s latest equipment will address hospital staffing shortages, ease care burdens, and improve care efficiency by having a camera in every at-risk and high acuity patient room."

The CareView Patient Safety System, anchored by patented Virtual Bed Rails® and Virtual Chair Rails®, uses predictive technology to differentiate between normal patient movements and behaviors of an at-risk patient. This results in fewer false alarms, quicker staff interventions, and a significant reduction in patient falls. Furthermore, CareView Patient Safety System supports virtual nursing workflows for admissions and discharges to help reduce labor costs, improve efficiency, decrease staff burden and burnout, and enhance patient engagement.

"At CareView, our mission is simple - reduce sitter costs, lower patient falls, and inspire a culture of always-on safety and care in every facility running the CareView Patient Safety System," stated Sandra McRee, CareView’s COO. "Under the new Vizient contract, we can continue to grow our commitment to that mission."

As a leader in turnkey patient video monitoring solutions, CareView is redefining the standard of patient safety in hospitals and healthcare facilities across the country. For over a decade, CareView has relentlessly pursued innovative ways to increase patient protection, providing next generation solutions that lower operational costs and foster a culture of safety among patient, staff and hospital leadership. With installations in more than 150 hospitals, CareView has proven that its innovative technology is creating a culture of patient safety where patient falls have decreased by 80% and sitter costs have decreased by more than 65%. Anchored by the CareView Patient Safety System, this modular, scalable, solution delivers flexible configurations to fit any facility while significantly increasing patient safety and operational savings. All configurations feature HD cameras, high-fidelity 2-way audio/video, LCD displays for the ultimate in capability, flexibility, and affordability. Corporate offices are located at 405 State Highway 121 Bypass, Suite B-240, Lewisville, TX 75067. More information about the Company and its products and services is available on the Company’s website at .

After hitting a record $560 million in revenue and growing to over 400 employees, Parkway C&A, LP opens its fourth office nationwide.

Opening an additional office in Texas was a natural choice, as it will enable us to enhance our services and better serve our clients.”

LEWISVILLE, TEXAS, USA, March 6, 2023 /EINPresswire.com/ -- Leading the way in general contracting, architecture, and design-build services, Parkway C&A, LP is proud to announce the addition of a new office in Lewisville, Texas. This location is the company's fourth office nationwide and second in Texas, following its offices in Irvine, California and Ogden, Utah.

The opening of the new office is in response to the company's rapid growth through repeat business with partners who value relationships regionally and nationally. Parkway's new office is located at 1830 Lakeway Dr in Lewisville.

The Dallas-based company reached an all-time high revenue of $560 million in 2022, with over 400 employees nationwide. The opening of the new office in Lewisville will help Parkway continue its foreseeable steady growth in the coming years.

"At Parkway, we place great importance on providing exceptional customer service and achieving sustainable growth. Opening an additional office in Texas was a natural choice, as it will enable us to enhance our services and better serve our clients," said Parkway President and CEO Rick Wojciechowski.

"By prioritizing operational efficiency and fostering strong relationships with our clients, we have been able to grow our business, and we are excited about the possibilities that lie ahead."

Parkway's integrated design-build services provide comprehensive solutions to partners' needs, reducing overall costs and providing more value.

For more information about Parkway and its services, please visit www.parkwayconstruction.com

ABOUT PARKWAY C&A, LP Parkway is a leading general contracting and design-build firm with over 41 years of experience nationwide. Parkway offers a complete set of integrated services in-house, including commercial construction, architecture, site investigations, value engineering, permitting, and preconstruction services. The company's core focus on partnering with clients from concept to completion – a business model that consistently leads to repeat business – has translated into over four decades of growth and longevity.

Clairissa Cooper Parkway C&A, LP email us here Visit us on social media: Twitter LinkedIn YouTube