Lake Sturgeon Reintroduction and Movement in the Upper Wolf River, Wisconsin

The Winnebago System, Wisconsin, is home to the largest population of lake sturgeon Acipenser fulvescens in the world. Ample spawning habitat exists on the Wolf River, but construction of two dams has eliminated the fish’s access to their ancestral spawning grounds at Keshena Falls within the Menominee Indian Reservation. Given the cultural importance of sturgeon to the Menominee Tribe, the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources and the Menominee Tribe are cooperatively working on a 10-year joint project to restore spawning lake sturgeon to Keshena Falls, while also re-establishing a river resident population upstream of the dams. To meet these objectives, 100 lake sturgeon per year are captured from the Wolf River below the dams, and transferred upstream of the dams to the Menominee Reservation. All transferred fish are surgically implanted with 10-year acoustic tags to determine spawning location and monitor downstream movement of sturgeon through the dams. The early stages of the project have yielded promising results, and for the first time in over 100 years, sturgeon spawned at Keshena Falls as a result of this project. Through cooperative efforts, this project has also strengthened the relationships between the Menominee Tribe and the sturgeon spearing community around the Winnebago System.