Manistee — Turn off U.S. Route 31 just past town, and you’ll find a boat launch on the river named Rainbow Bend. Right next to it is a little corrugated metal building. While it doesn’t look like much, inside it is one of the greatest conservation stories in Michigan history.
This building is home to the Little River Band of Ottawa Indian’s lake sturgeon rearing program. And once a year, when fall is just starting, the public gets to participate in the program by helping to release the sturgeon back into the river.
Located on the banks of the gorgeous Manistee River, the annual release was a festive atmosphere, with games, info booths, and tours of the rearing facility.
Also present were dozens of salmon fishermen on the banks, in the river, and in the parking lot. While they probably were not happy to fight us for parking, it was fun to watch them hook into a king while we waited for the release.
The ceremony began with a prayer given by a tribal member. And while spoken prayer was included, the most important was the smoking of a pipe in all of the cardinal directions.
After that, there was the presentation of a wooden staff made in the shape of a sturgeon. Each year, an eagle feather is added to the staff to honor the sturgeon and the people who helped raise them. Then there was a drum circle performance.
I felt like I had been transported back 150 years, when the Ottawa were masters of the Manistee River and the dams and pine plantations and tourists were nothing but a dream. With the ceremony over, the director of the Fisheries Department said a few words about the history of the program.
With that, it was time for the release.
It would be one thing to just to let the public watch the release, but as the public lined up at the rearing facility, employees and volunteers loaded the sturgeon, two at a time, into buckets. These buckets were handed out to everyone, and the public got to release the sturgeon themselves.
Before grabbing my own bucket, I set out to watch. Young and old alike rushed down to the river to put the sturgeon in. It was magical for everyone—kids especially—to watch their sturgeon swim away into the river.
In an instant, a personal bond was created between people and a fish. This type of release creates advocates for conservation out of everyday citizens, simply by allowing them to participate.
After watching for a bit, I grabbed a bucket of my own. Inside were two splotchy brown and black sturgeon. They were about 10 inches long and seemed quite shocked to be out of the tubs they grew up in. I walked to the river and found a sandy spot to release them.
With a little pour, they dropped into the river. At first, they were confused. But slowly they began to get their bearings and swam off into the river, ready to start their new life.
Lake sturgeon are the largest fish native to Michigan. At their max size, they can reach up to 7 feet, weigh more than 200 pounds, and live more than 100 years! They are truly the gentle giants of Michigan waters, feeding off the bottom of lakes and rivers across the state.
They make up a critical part of our underwater ecosystems. To the Little River Band, they are even more important. Sturgeon were traditionally representatives (and still are today) of one of the Ottawa clans and hold huge cultural significance to the tribe.
But with the arrival of settlers to Michigan, their numbers plummeted. Dams blocked their movement upriver, they were overfished, and logging destroyed their rivers. In the early 2000s, the tribe decided they had to act.
One important thing to remember about the tribe’s program is that it is not a breeding program. While they considered a breeding program, there were several drawbacks. Programs that harvest wild eggs from sturgeon tend to be very rough with them, which the tribe felt was disrespectful, especially because of their special place in the tribe’s culture.
On the other hand, a captive breeding program using fish from other rivers would introduce new genetics to the river, which was also not ideal because the Tribe wanted to protect the unique genetics of the Manistee River population.
So a third option was decided. Lake Sturgeon lay thousands upon thousands of eggs. But only a minuscule fraction of them will survive to become adults. So, a plan was hatched: Sturgeon larvae would be caught directly out of the river using drift nets set at night. They would be raised in a streamside facility where they would be fed and kept safe. The goal was to get these sturgeon over the curb of mortality.
Then, after a summer of feeding, the sturgeon are released into the river. While not all the released fish survive, enough do to boost the population. Because lake sturgeon live so long, the program has a compounding effect: Each successful release strengthens the overall population.
One of the best parts about living in Michigan is getting to experience a direct connection with nature. Each September, there is no better way to do that than here during the Little River Band’s sturgeon release.
Jack Ducote is a writer who loves fishing, hunting, the outdoors, and of course, Michigan. He writes under Hemlock Hobo on Substack.
