Construction for Plant Under Way

Land-clearing near Thurmond Lake’s Modoc boat ramp is the first tangible hint of construction on a long awaited oxygen plant to boost striped bass fishing.

But don’t look for it to be finished anytime soon.

“Obviously, this is not a six-month project,” said Ken Boyd, the Army Corps of Engineers’ conservation biologist.

“It will still take two or three years.”

The plant, for which $4.6 million was appropriated by Congress in February, will include several miles of perforated, submerged lines through which liquid oxygen will be pumped from the shore.

The objective of the plant, Boyd said during a talk last week to the CSRA Flyfishers group, is to create a new area closer to Thurmond Dam that will attract and hold stripers in open-water habitat.

The added oxygen is part of a longterm program to improve water quality – and fishing opportunities – in the lake and lower Savannah River, he said.

The replacement of Thurmond Dam’s seven turbines with oxygen- injecting vented units, he added, has more than doubled dissolved oxygen levels in the lower river, which over time will improve fishing.

Boyd – who joined the corps earlier this year after 15 years as Fort Gordon’s wildlife biologist – also discussed other issues at the lake, ranging from weed control to low water levels.

Hydrilla, which was first found in the lake in 1995, is now believed to cover 6,000 acres to 7,000 acres of the 70,000-acre lake, despite annual herbicide applications that merely slow its spread.

The corps remains interested in options for better weed control, he said, and continues to evaluate – through discussions with Georgia and South Carolina – alternative programs that someday might include the introduction of grass carp.

Part of the problem with hydrilla is its ability to interact with certain algae to create a toxic substance consumed by waterfowl, he said. Those waterfowl, such as coots, are eaten by predators, such as bald eagles, which can be killed by the toxin.

Since 1995, the condition – known as AVM, or avian vacuolar myelinopathy – has caused at least 43 bald eagle deaths.

One of the Savannah River system’s better-known fishing opportunities, he said, involves the trout fishery at the Hartwell tailrace into Lake Russell, which lies above Thurmond Lake.

“Every year there are about 24,000 catchable-size trout that Georgia and South Carolina stock,” he said. “It’s the only place in this area where we have enough cold water adequate for a trout fishery.”

The area includes almost a full mile of trout habitat, he said.

The CSRA Flyfishers group meets the fourth Monday of every month, except December, at the River Island clubhouse off Blackstone Camp Road. Their Web site is www.csraflyfishers.org.

Reach Rob Pavey at (706) 868-1222, ext. 119,

or rob.pavey@augustachronicle.com.

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