Nestled in the woods between West Bend and Saukville, Riveredge Nature Center (4458 CTH-Y) is a regional hub for wellness and inclusivity-oriented programming within southeastern Wisconsin’s wilderness as well as host to a number of conservation projects. One of its most notable projects is the Lake Sturgeon Rehabilitation Program implemented to protect the largest native fish species in the Great Lakes.
“They’ve been around for over 140 million years, so they’re a living fossil,” marketing and communications specialist Amy Casey says of sturgeon. The fish may grow to be up to seven feet long and weigh 250 pounds. They are an extremely important species to the freshwater ecosystem, being benthic feeders that help manage invertebrate populations, including invasive ones, and keep the river bottom clean of organic debris. “They’re kind of like janitors,” Casey explains. The lake sturgeon is also an indicator species, so its presence signals a healthy ecosystem.
Sturgeon once were plentiful in the Great Lakes and Milwaukee River. The fish hold significance to Indigenous peoples of Wisconsin, revered as protectors of wild rice and prominently featured in traditional stories, games, artwork and ceremonies. During the Second Industrial Revolution at the turn of the 20th century, the fish were treated like a nuisance and heavily overfished for their prized meat and caviar, plus their habitats were destroyed by dams and widespread agricultural pollution.
Endangered Species
All these factors culminated in lake sturgeon being reduced to just 1% of their historic population and extirpated from the Milwaukee River, and it is now recognized as a threatened species. Informed by Indigenous knowledge and various conservation efforts, Riveredge Nature Center teamed up with the Wisconsin DNR to launch the Lake Sturgeon Rehabilitation Program in 2006. It is a 25-year project because that is how long it takes for female fish to reach sexual maturity. The center’s rearing facility is a trailer containing four tanks where the fish are born and raised in water sourced directly from the Milwaukee River. Eggs are sourced from the sturgeon population of the Wolf River.
A baby sturgeon about to be released at Sturgeon Fest in Milwaukee…