The tale of hydrilla and the golden grass-eating carp is a biological control to Manage Pond Weeds.
There was a time when J. Strom Thurmond Lake had a terrible weed-queen named Hydrilla who pushed out all the other aquatic plants.The pair wreaked havoc on birds of prey with the help of her toxic underling, blue-green algae.
After a thorough study and survey, residents decided to introduce legions of sterile, grass-eating carp to fight Queen Hydrilla.
The chief Ranger for forest, fish and wildlife at J. Strom Thurmond Lake Project spoke with me last week about the plan to limit hydrilla's impact.
Thurmond Lake was stocked with approximately 50,000 sterile, grass-eating carp in accordance with the APMP.
In areas where bald eagle mortality had historically been an issue, they applied herbicide to about 200 acres of the lake.Bussey Point, Parksville and Cherokee were included.
Natural resources staff conducted surveys and found that there was no need for additional treatments.
The plan will be evaluated this fall with a survey and random sampling around the lake.
Chris Spiller is the natural resources manager at Thurmond.It takes about four to six years for the impact of the grass-eating carp to be seen.
A lake-wide survey is planned for 2022, to further assess hydrilla control levels and out-year plans.
Thurmond has been aggressively bolstering its native aquatic plant nursery, which it started this past winter.
Water willow and maiden cane are plants that can thrive in dry and wet conditions.Ensuring the health of growing fish and aids against erosion are essential to establishing strong populations of these native plants.Water willows will be planted in Thurmond by September.
Adding cable and deep water attractors to encourage fish populations in the lake is one of the things that the staff is doing.
It's too early to link current mortality rates to grass-eating carp additions, but they continue to monitor bald eagle populations around Thurmond Lake.He doesn't know of any bald eagle deaths since December.Four successful nest attempts were made at Thurmond Lake.
As information becomes available, we will continue to provide updates on the plan.We want to make sure hydrilla and blue-green algae don't live happily ever after.
If you are joining the story late, here is some additional background information on hydrilla and Thurmond Lake.
Thurmond Lake has been invaded by the aquatic plant hydrilla since the 1990s.It pushes out native aquatic plants because it grows so quickly.hydrilla is said to grow faster than any living thing.
There is a blue-green algae on hydrilla.The toxin in the hydrilla can cause coots and other birds to become sick.These fowl become easy prey for eagles and other birds of prey.
AVM can affect the bird's brain and cause it to die.It is associated with American bald eagle deaths.
Thurmond officials documented 76 bald eagle deaths.Corps officials along with Georgia and South Carolina Departments of Natural Resources and the University of Georgia conducted a comprehensive lake-wide survey in 2010 and 2015 to gauge awareness and determine stakeholder sentiment for proceeding with a course of action against hydrilla.
The report from the stakeholder was released.More than 70 percent of respondents said they would support stocking the lake with grass-eating carp.Even at the cost of reducing fish and waterfowl habitats, almost 66 percent supported the removal of aquatic vegetation.
In October-November of last year, officials stocked 17,725 grass-eating carp.