I was there yesterday for this and asked a few things.

Eelgrass is native to the river, but we just haven't had it in the river until the last 20ish years. It's here to stay. Eelgrass also is in Wheeler and Pickwick, which is good for Wheeler. I didn't know it was (is) native but that's a good thing.

The salvinia is truly a bad plant. So far they've found it in Short Creek (a bunch), some coves in midlake and around Buck Island, and on the river side of Brown's Creek. They're trying to get ahead of it before winter with the herbicide. A little bit has been found in Wheeler and Pickwick, too, but they're ahead of it with spraying.

They also found hyacinth last year. Not a lot of it in midlake but enough to be concerning and apply herbicides. The majority was in Sublett Cove upstream (I think that's right) and was quite a lot.

I talked with the TVA guys yesterday about what was done decades ago and what is done now, as far as herbicide applications. The "kill everything!" ways of yesteryear are not done anymore, despite what people continue to believe. They physically (and financially) cannot kill 20,000 acres in a 67,000-plus acre lake. It would be impossible. So the cries of "They killing everything!" are silly. But they do kill invasives like these, and in areas of public access.

TVA doesn't always get it right but they are on this salvinia and hyacinth.