St. Croix Chippewa Tribe Welcomes Sturgeon to Their Waters
The St. Croix Chippewa tribe has stocked sturgeon on their reservation for the first time. Here’s everything you need to know.
For the St. Croix Chippewa Indians of Wisconsin, reintroducing sturgeon to the waters of Clam Lake has been a collective dream for many years. On October 14, that dream came true.
The tribe has been working tirelessly to bring the ancient fish—which is called “name” in their native Ojibwe language—into the lake found on their reservation. Sturgeon, according to Conrad St. John, a St. Croix Tribal Chairman, holds significant cultural meaning to the St. Croix Chippewa. Speaking about the efforts to reintroduce the species to reservation waters, St. John told Wisconsin Public Radio, “We do actively harvest sturgeon in the spring. To keep those harvesting efforts available and an option for tribal members, we’d like to restore the resources (to) keep them plentiful for many generations to come.”
St. John also mentioned that lake sturgeon have “been around a lot longer than humans,” as they’re believed to have survived for over 150 million years. To put that into perspective, this species was around at the same time as dinosaurs, which is incredibly fascinating when you think about it that way.
As Wisconsin Public Radio notes, the tribe has spent around $1 million to add a recirculating aquaculture system to its existing fish hatchery as a way to help raise the surgeon inside before transferring them to Clam Lake. The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources worked alongside them to gather eggs from the Yellow River system to raise for this purpose. Thanks to their efforts, around 397 fish were released on Tuesday’s historic occasion.
This is just the beginning of reintroduction efforts
Before the monumental release of the sturgeon on St. Croix Chippewa’s reservation, Bruce Sonnenberg, a Tribal Elder, offered asemaa (tobacco) and said a prayer to ask the spirits to guide the fish to grow and thrive in Clam Lake. Sonnenberg is a member of the St. Croix Chippewa’s sturgeon clan, so the moment was especially meaningful.
Jeremy Bloomquist, who is the land and water resources manager for the tribe, said they’re hopeful that about 80% of the released sturgeon will survive and reproduce. The goal is to continuously stock the species over the next 20 or so years to help fully rehabilitate its population.
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