Aquatic grasses causes pros, cons for Texas wildlife

Aquatic grasses, many of them invasive species, can grow so thick that they render boating, swimming, skiing, fishing, and hunting near impossible. In some lakes, landowners cannot even get their boats out of their boat docks.

Texas Park and Wildlife Department (TPWD) biologists reported in a press release that in 2017, Caddo Lake, in East Texas, was covered by more than 6,000 acres of invasive giant salvinia. Giant salvinia can double in size in less than a week, forming mats up to three feet thick. It can choke out native plants that are habitats for local fish and birds.

But Caddo Lake got a break from Mother Nature.  Now the giant salvinia plants have been reduced to just over 1,500 acres.