How Many Alligators Call Lewisville Lake in North Texas Home?

One hundred years, the foundation for the future Lewisville Lake was being lain. Located north of Dallas/Fort Worth in Denton County, once a rural farming community, Lewisville Lake entered the world when more water storage was needed. Previously, the responsibility lay at the shores of Lake Dallas, which was created when the Elm Fork of the Trinity River was impounded in the 1920s and the Garza Dam completed in 1927.

Two decades later, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers began to revamp the area. Construction on a new Garza Dam commenced in 1948, impounding not just the Elm Fork of the Trinity River but also the Stewart, Panther, Cottonwood, Doe Branch, Little Elm, Pecan, and Hickory creeks. An internet search for Lake Dallas returns the website for Lake Dallas, a city on the shores of Lewisville Lake. Lake Dallas eventually breached its dam, and the two bodies of water combined to form the 28,980-acre Lewisville Lake, one of Texas’ largest lakes.

North Texas rarely comes to mind when thinking of the American alligator, but plenty of alligators make several bodies of water in this state home, maybe even at Lewisville Lake. Keep reading to learn more.

Alligators in Lewisville Lake

According to an assistant biologist for Texas Parks and Wildlife, Lewisville Lake is known to have alligators inhabiting the areas along the extensive shoreline of the lake because some individuals were likely trapped in the area during the construction of the dam and lake. The exact number? Unknown.

Nevertheless, the alligators living at Lewisville Lake “are likely to be limited and scattered in these areas of pocket habitat,” according to the above-mentioned report. The report continues: “Some small populations of American alligators may occur outside of the…general range and may represent remnant populations from a former range or from released American alligators.”

Lewisville Lake is one of the top recreation areas for swimming, boating, fishing, and camping, among other activities, in Texas. Despite their presence in the area, alligators pose little threat to the people who live and recreate on the lake. And alligators have a natural fear of people, so if people avoid them, they’ll avoid people.

In fact, the most recent attention from an alligator sighting at Lewisville Lake comes from 2015 when the U.S. Army Corps of Engineer posted a photo of a 9-foot alligator spotted in a drainage ditch on X (formerly Twitter). People, especially those who work around the lake, regularly see alligators, but they usually retreat upon seeing people. This one, according to the post, “was ready for its close up.”

Alligator Safety

It is not rare for visitors to and residents of Lewisville Lake to spot an alligator basking in the sun and in the water or even crossing a road. What is rare is for an alligator to interact with someone. Even rarer than that is the chance it would attack. Alligators have a natural fear of humans, which is why it’s best to be aware of their presence at Lewisville Lake rather than afraid.

Although many are frightened by just the idea of sharing a body of water with an alligator, there is little reason to be. Texas Parks and Wildlife provides a complete guide on what do if you see an alligator. Additionally, there are steps one can take to avoid encounters altogether.