Could Coming Hard Freeze Rid NWLA Lakes of Salvinia?

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If the National Weather Service is correct, Old Man Winter is about to make his presence known here in Northwest Louisiana, and while I'm not a fan of cold weather, this could be a huge blessing in disguise for our area lakes.

The Weather Channel even says that things are about to get extremely frigid in our neck of the woods, with forecasted lows of 32 Friday morning. Then down to 29 Saturday morning; 18 Sunday morning (in fact, Sunday might never get above freezing with a forecasted high of only 31); then we'll see a low of 21 Monday morning (Feb. 15) and a blistering low of 27 on Tuesday, February 16.

Of course, weather forecasts are often wrong, but should this one be correct, we really need to ready our pipes and plants and such, but it could have a direct benefit for our area lakes including Caddo, Lake Bistineau, Wallace Lake, Cross Lake, Black Bayou Hosston and Black Lake Campti, that have been terribly ravaged by the invasive aquatic plant "Salvinia."

In an article posted by the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries back in January of 2018 we learn:

Biologists with LDWF hope the freeze will result in a reduction of salvinia this spring and summer, as it did in 2010 when salvinia coverage was drastically reduced following a winter freeze.

 

However, significant visible reduction in coverage will not likely occur for a few months due to the amount of time it takes the plant to decompose. The department also notes that although the freezing temperatures may cause some level of die-off, it will not completely eradicate it.

From what we see in this article, we know that the freezing weather can certain kill a lot of the salvinia , "it will not completely eradicate it."

Hopefully, the LDWF will take advantage of the time this stuff is knocked in the head and really focus their spraying efforts to hit as much of the remaining weed to possibly rid us of this "devil weed."

Only time will tell.