ANDERSON COUNTY, Texas (KLTV) – We’ve seen it happen on East Texas lakes before…the appearance of Giant Salvinia!
Game wardens are warning boaters and recreationers to be careful what they bring to the lake on their boats in an effort to curb the spread of this invasive plant.
Alarm bells are going off for game wardens after Giant Salvinia showed up on Lake Palestine.
“A couple of weeks ago, we saw it on the north end of the lake. It’s usually contained up there. Now, it’s blown into the main part of the lake as far as the bridge and villages, so we’ve got land owners and concerned citizens calling us,” said Smith County Game Warden Chris Swift.
The invasive species can take over an entire body of water and spread rapidly. When it invades, it kills any other source of marine plant life.
“It can be catastrophic. Giant Salvinia is an aquatic plant, and it floats,” Swift said.
It also grows at an astonishing rate.
“The stuff that we observed a couple of weeks ago was small, juvenile,” the game warden said, and now there are floating mats of it.
“You can drown in it, swimming,” said Swift.
Not just an inconvenience, once it gets started, it can choke the life out of a body of water.
So, how did it get here? It’s transported.
“It certainly can get in somebody’s trailer and somebody’s boat. We have to spray for this, and spraying costs money. We can’t 100 percent say that all we’re spraying is the hyacinth and Giant Salvinia,” Swift said.
He says to stop the spread, boaters need to be vigilant.
“Take a little extra time to clean your trailer, clean the bunks on your trailer, and if you can, dry your boat off, wipe your boat off. You don’t want to be that one guy that brings it from one lake to another lake,” he said.
Swift said if game wardens spot a boat that has not been cleaned, they are authorized to make a traffic stop to ensure the craft is addressed.
Copyright 2025 KLTV. All rights reserved.