Lake Sturgeon in the Milwaukee River

• 1600-1700's

  Indigenous communities around the Great Lakes sustainably caught lake sturgeon for thousands of years. Menominee and Ho-Chunk were early residents of southeastern Wisconsin along Lake Michigan. They were followed by Potawatomi, Fox, and Sauk in the 1600s and early 1700s.

• 1830's

  Former residents of New York and New England began settling in Milwaukee.

• 1840's

  European immigrants begin arriving in Milwaukee.

• 1842

  1842: Dam built across Milwaukee River downstream of North Ave. to provide water for Byron Kilbourn’s canal project to connect Milwaukee to Rock River. Only one mile of canal was completed. Dam damaged by high river flows in late 1860s. (“Watermills,” digital Encyclopedia of Milwaukee, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.)

• 1840's

  After North Ave. Dam blocked sturgeon from swimming upstream for spawning, it was common to shoot sturgeon and other fish in lower Milwaukee River and harbor. “Lake sturgeon were shot from bridge at Walker’s Point (1844).” (Buck, James S. 1881. History of Milwaukee 1840-1846, Vol. 2)

• 1846s

  “When Milwaukee became a city in 1846, wild rice beds still flourished at the mouths of the Kinnickinnic, Menomonee and Milwaukee Rivers. Wild rice, however, is sensitive to water pollution. As Milwaukee grew as a harbor, manufacturing center, and residential hub, pollution increased. Soon, the wild rice was gone.” (MMSD, digital “History”)

• 1850

  Estimated time that Lake sturgeon last seen in Milwaukee River due to inability to swim upstream for spawning and shooting of sturgeon in the lower river. (Brad Eggold, WDNR, personal correspondence with Will Wawrzyn, WDNR retired, 2/9/2024) In less than three decades, the new settlers from New England, New York and Europe had eliminated sturgeon from the Milwaukee River, a tributary the species had depended on for spawning and helping sustain its population since the last glacier retreated several thousand years earlier. Large numbers of Lake sturgeon, however, remained in Lake Michigan. But not for long.

  “When the first European immigrants reached the shores of the Great Lakes, sturgeon were super-abundant (in the lake). The newcomers didn’t quite know what to do with these freshwater giants. The fish ripped holes in nets designed for smaller (fish).” (“Return of the Natives: Lake Sturgeon Begin Their Long Trip Back,” John Gurda, Oct. 6, 2013.

• 1866

  “The creatures were so undervalued that in 1866 one Lake Erie steamboat captain began using overripe sturgeon for boiler fuel. “The oil from the fish assists the combustion of the wood very much,” reported the Cleveland Herald. “It is said that twenty sturgeon make as much steam as a cord of wood.” (Gurda)

  As the city grew, local waterways were used to dispose of human sewage, commercial and industrial wastes. Poor water quality blocked sturgeon as effectively as a dam from swimming from the lake upstream into the Milwaukee River.

• 1880's

  "By 1880 (consumer) tastes had changed. (Immigrant) Residents of the Great Lakes finally discovered that sturgeon was both tasty and nutritious. As demand for the fish increased, the Great Lakes harvest climbed to four million pounds a year between 1880 and 1900.” (Gurda

  “When fish processors realized the value of sturgeon roe (eggs) for caviar, discovered sturgeon flesh was delicious fresh or smoked and found that a high-quality gelatin called isinglass could be extracted from the sturgeon’s swim bladder, the Great Lakes sturgeon fishery exploded.” (WDNR, “Fishes of Wisconsin: Lake Sturgeon Fact Sheet)

• Late 1880's

  In the late 19th Century, abuse of the waterways became more rampant, and the rivers began to stink and pose health risks. As a stopgap measure to alleviate the putrid conditions in Milwaukee's rivers, flushing tunnels were built - one on the north side in 1888 and one on the south side in 1907.

  These flushing tunnels pumped huge volumes of Lake Michigan water into the Milwaukee River and the Kinnickinnic River. Nevertheless, conditions in all the rivers worsened. Nearshore Lake Michigan, a source of drinking water, was contaminated. (MMSD: History)

• 1891

  1891: City of Milwaukee built a new dam on Milwaukee River below North Ave. to control flooding on Milwaukee River, provide hydropower to mills, tanneries, factories, and breweries. (City of Milwaukee, Milwaukee Riverwalk Tour)

• 1900

  “The sturgeon harvest fell sharply after 1900. Overfishing was certainly to blame, and our ancestors didn’t make it easy for these slow breeders to recover. Dams blocked access to their traditional spawning beds, and sewage-choked rivers made poor spawning habitat in any case.” (Gurda)

• 1915

  “The collapse of Lake sturgeon populations in Wisconsin waters of Lake Michigan led to the state’s enactment of a statewide ban of all lake sturgeon harvest from 1915 to 1932.” (“Projected Lake sturgeon recovery in the Milwaukee River, Wisconsin,” Bruch, Eggold, Schiller, Wawrzyn, Journal of Applied Ichthyology, 2021)

• 1930's

  Estabrook Park dam on Milwaukee River built.

• 1934

  Kletzsch Park dam on Milwaukee River built.

• 1997

  1997: North Ave. dam on Milwaukee River removed. This was the first step in effort to either remove upstream dams or create fish passages around dams so that sturgeon and other weak swimming fish can swim upstream to historic fish spawning habitats. Eliminating the barriers is necessary to restore a self-sustaining population of sturgeon to the river.

• 2000

  2000: Chair Factory dam on Milwaukee River at Grafton removed.

• 2003

  2003: Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources begins stocking Lake sturgeon in Milwaukee River.

• 2006

  2006: Riveredge Nature Center begins operating the Milwaukee River Streamside Rearing Facility with goal of receiving fertilized Lake sturgeon eggs each spring for 25 years from Wolf River population and rearing and stocking 1,000 large fingerlings each fall in the Milwaukee River harbor on Lake Michigan.

• 2010

• 2011

  2011: Fish passage opens around dam on Milwaukee River at Mequon/Thiensville.

• 2018

  2018: Estabrook Park dam removed.

• 2022

  Fish passage around Mequon/Thiensville dam upgraded to allow sturgeon to pass. (Aaron Schiller, WDNR)

• 2022

  Twenty-four (24) sturgeon, ages 10-16, detected in Milwaukee River by riverbed sensor near Urban Ecology Center at Riverside Park between early April and early June. Peak activity during third week of April. All had been reared at Riveredge. (Schiller) .

• 2023

  Twenty-three (23) sturgeon, ages 11-17, detected in Milwaukee River by the sensor at Riverside Park between late April and late May. Peak activity during the first week of May. All had been reared at Riveredge. (Schiller)

• 1830's

  Former residents of New York and New England began settling in Milwaukee.

• December 2023

  Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District opens fish passage around dam on Milwaukee River at Kletzsch Park.

• February 2024

  Wisconsin Natural Resources Board approves establishment of a year-round fish refuge encompassing the fish passage around Kletzsch Park dam. The refuge prohibits fishing for all fish along the passage and removing any fish from the passage where shallow water leaves them vulnerable to poaching. Sturgeon will depend on the passage to reach upstream spawning habitat.