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[ominous music]
Caddo Lake is no stranger to invading exotic plants.
"Almost looks like you can walk across it, doesn’t it?"
"This is hydrilla here,"
"probably the most abundant invasive on the lake,"
right next to the water hyacinth.”
But there is a new visitor from South America – Giant Salvinia.
“Salvinia is the latest one and it’s by far the worst."
"I think everybody that lives on the lake"
"should take up a very big interest in it.”
The local economy here revolves around
fishing, boating, and tourism
all of which are threatened by Giant Salvinia.
"It doubles in size in a week."
"It knocks out the sunshine. It takes oxygen out of the water."
"All, everything is gone. It’s the only thing that survives."
"It’s the type of thing that can just"
"completely kill a lake like Caddo.”
“You’re looking at an act of desperation.”
“NBC Nightly News came down and did a story on it."
"It was because of this fence.”
“It spreads from lake to lake by boat trailers"
"and has now infested more than 50 lakes"
"from Virginia to California.”
Herculean efforts to save Caddo from this latest invasion
involved a two mile fence across the lake.
“It makes people realize this is a serious problem,"
"otherwise no one would let those fools"
"build that fence across this lake."
"And we feel like we are stopping"
"some major infestations from happening.”
“With some herbicide treatments"
"you can keep these boat roads open."
"With a lot of the efforts going towards Giant Salvinia,"
"it’s taken away some efforts from water hyacinth.”
Chemicals are just one option.
To combat yet another exotic aquatic, alligator weed
biologists enlist a tiny army.
“Those are alligator weed flea beetles.”
“They have been approved by the USDA as bio-control agents."
"We can be reasonably confident"
"that they are not going to impact the environment"
"or the ecology where they are placed.”
But the best tool to manage invasive plants?
“Public awareness and public involvement."
"We assume that many of these plants"
"made it into the United States"
"through the aquarium trade,"
"or perhaps through the water garden trade.”
“Check your boat trailers, check your boats, you know,"
"so that you don’t spread this somewhere else.”
For Texas Parks and Wildlife, this is Lydia Saldana.