Giant Salvinia Control Patrol - Bayou St. John

The department of sanitation came for our giant mountain of Salvinia. Cuyler and the Hippo are out there making MORE MOUNTAINS!

Cleaning up invasive water plants in Bayou St. John!

We had a very succesful bayou clean-up this Saturday! THANK YOU to all the amazing volunteers that came out to help.

In the video, you'll see Innovative Aquatic Solutions doing the dang thing clearing salvinia out near the Filmore bridge. Thanks Cuyler for your hard work!!!!

Friends of Bayou St. John put up the funds to hire them this weekend, and the effort will be on-going, so we will probably need to hire them again! Please donate if you can to help cover these hard costs. You can make a tax-deductible donation with the 'Donate' button below! ... See more

Invasive Water Plants Update!

According to the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, there is a 3 prong approach to managing giant salvinia:

1) Herbicides (Diquat and Glyphosate for Giant Salvinia)
2) Import Weevils that only eat Giant Salvinia (not available until late May/early June)
3) Mechanical/manual removal

The good news is that these plants are not actively growing at this time, so if we can remove before April we can avoid a full-blown epidemic.

The LDWF will place booms at multiple points and begin spraying on Monday. They will place a boom at Robert E. Lee that will stay indefinitely to help prevent plants flowing in through flood gates from drifting pass that point. Herbicides are EPA approved.

They will re-assess situation in late May to determine if weevils are needed.

This weekend, an amazing assortment of neighborhood organizations and residents will place initial booms and begin mechanical/manual removal.

If you are interested in helping, we will be meeting Saturday (Feb. 9th) at 8:30am, at the Lafitte St. end of Bayou St. John.

Thanks to: Faubourg St. John Neighborhood Association, Kayak-iti-Yat, Lake Pontchartrain Basin Foundation, New Orleans City Park, and the LDWF for their assistance!

Pictured is an initial boom just placed at Filmore, where we hope to use tomorrow's winds in our favor and collect a bunch of the plants. ... See more