Lake Thurmond approaches 50th birthday, embraces diversity

AUGUSTA - With weeds from Africa and mud-loving clams from Asia, Georgia&#39;s largest lake has become an ecological melting pot in its 50 years. <br> <br> The geese on Thurmond Lake were imported from Maryland and Virginia and the deer were trucked down from Michigan. Even the fish the hybrid bass were manufactured in a hatchery in Richmond Hill, solely for the benefit of anglers. <br> <br> Thurmond Lake - a 72,000-acre reservoir created by the Army Corps of Engineers - is turning 50 this year, and is still one of the nation&#39;s 10 most visited Corps projects, attracting about 6 million visitors each year. <br> <br> Thurmond is the largest, man-made Corps of Engineers&#39; lake east of the Mississippi River. It features 1,200 miles of shoreline and borders Georgia and South Carolina. <br> <br> Officials attribute some of the lake&#39;s success to its diverse marine life. <br> <br> Mike Alexander, a Corps fisheries biologist, said some of the fish, such as the yellow perch, date back to the Eisenhower administration. <br> <br> ``That&#39;s why a lot of old-timers still call them &#39;Eisenhowers&#39;,&#39;&#39; Alexander said. <br> <br> He said while most of the fish were added on purpose, some species arrived by accident, such as the bluejack herring that found their way into Lake Jocassee, S.C., in the 1970s and spread to nearby reservoirs. <br> <br> Alexander said the walnut-sized Asiatic clams were transported to America on shipping vessels. The clams have periodic die-offs, which create a smorgasbord for other lake habitants, such as shellcracker and blue gill, he said. <br> <br> One of the most recent arrivals is hydrilla, an African weed inadvertently brought to the area on an angler&#39;s boat propellor. It now covers almost 1,000 acres. <br> <br> While visitation at Lake Thurmond has been hurt by a four-year drought, officials hope the diversity of the lake will help attract thousands of visitors for the upcoming Fourth of July weekend.