Lake sturgeon (Acipenser fulvescens) on the Menominee Indian Reservation:: an effort toward co-management and population restoration

The lake sturgeon (Acipenser fulvescens) is a species of cultural significance to the Menominee Nation, a Native American tribe indigenous to northeast Wisconsin. Lake sturgeon in the Lake Winnebago system historically migrated up the Wolf River to spawn at Keshena Falls, within the current boundaries of the Menominee Reservation where, each spring, the Menominee people gathered at Keshena Falls to harvest lake sturgeon. The construction of two dams on the Wolf River downstream of Keshena Falls in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries contributed to extirpation of this species on the Menominee Reservation. The general public has had the opportunity to harvest lake sturgeon from Lake Winnebago during a winter spear fishery since 1932. Those who participate in this fishery feel as strongly about the lake sturgeon resource as do the Menominee people. Cooperation among multiple resource management agencies and the public was necessary to address the interests of both groups and at the same time ensure protection of the Winnebago system lake sturgeon population. In 1993, tribal, state, and federal representatives developed a plan to reintroduce lake sturgeon to the Menominee Reservation. The planning process was designed to involve all the various, often competing, tribal and non-tribal interests in a constructive effort to develop and implement a Menominee Reservation sturgeon rehabilitation plan that all parties could accept and endorse. The core planning group was the Menominee Reservation Lake Sturgeon Enhancement Committee which worked with the various sturgeon 'publics' to identify common sturgeon restoration goals, objectives and management strategies, and which has worked together since that time in the effort to re-establish viable lake sturgeon populations in Menominee Reservation waters. Since 1994, over 30 000 hatchery-raised lake sturgeon have been stocked in reservation lakes, and 87 Wolf River lake sturgeon have been radio-tagged and relocated upstream to reservation waters of the river. Enough mature lake sturgeon were present in this river reach in 2001 to permit spawning there for the first time in 50 years. The success of the co-management effort has been encouraging and participants are committed to the goal of establishing self-sustaining lake sturgeon populations in reservation waters.