Salvinia Completely Covers Local Lake
The residents of Shreveport's Riverwalk subdivision call it "The Oxbow." It's that not-so-small body of water that for years was accessed from now-closed C. Bickham Dickson Park off Bert Kouns Industrial Loop. But recently, "The Oxbow," one of the numerous Red River inlets, has been completely overrun with the Salvinia plant, overrun to the degree that it's nearly impossible to tell where the land ends and the water begins.
The Salvinia, which has been a problem at a number of lakes across Louisiana and Texas for years, had so overgrown "The Oxbow," that the bothersome plant had also completely covered the Riverwalk's docks, until they were cleaned with an extensive power washing.
Here's more on Giant Salvinia, aka salvinia molesta, from louisianaagcenter.com:
"Giant salvinia, Salvinia molesta D. S. Mitchell (Salviniaceae), is an invasive free-floating fern native to southeastern Brazil that has plagued waterways of tropical and subtropical regions of the world. In 1998, giant salvinia was reported along the border of Texas and Louisiana in the Toledo Bend Reservoir, subsequently spreading uncontrollably creating dense mats of weed on lakes, ponds and reservoirs throughout the southeastern United States."