Giant Salvinia found in Lake Fork

Giant Salvinia, the floating, aquatic fern originally from South America, has been confirmed present in Lake Fork in Chaney Branch, likely introduced by a contaminated boat or boat trailer at the boat ramp.

Texas Parks & Wildlife Department (TPWD) Tyler North and South district offices, along with the Sabine River Authority crews have been working to try and contain the plants by placing oil spill booms at the mouth of the cove, and manually removing some until herbicide treatments can be conducted.

Identifying different species of plants can be one of the most confusing and difficult tasks. TPWD says that because they have so much water to cover, they have always relied heavily on local anglers or boaters to report possible introductions of non-native plants or animals in Texas’ waters.

These images show and describe some of the species you may see at Lake Fork, as well as other lakes around East Texas. “The majority of aquatic plant species provide beneficial habitat for aquatic organisms and fish, but please let us know if you see something unusual or that you aren’t familiar with, don’t hesitate to take a picture and send an email to kevin.storey@tpwd.texas.gov or dan.bennett@tpwd.texas.gov. Or give us a call at: 903-593-5077. Texas A&M also maintains a very helpful website with information and images about
Texas’ aquatic plants: http://aquaplant.tamu.edu/.

The app for identifying aquatic plants can be downloaded at http://aquaplant.tamu.edu/useful-apps/