ONTONAGON, Mich. — The Michigan Department of Natural Resources has started a three-year effort to learn why 27 threatened lake sturgeon ended up cut off in shallow pools below a hydroelectric dam in the western Upper Peninsula this summer, and whether it will keep happening.
The fish were found below Victoria Dam in a channel of the river’s West Branch. The dam is run by Upper Peninsula Power Company. Under its Federal Energy Regulatory Commission license, the dam sends river water through a separate route to make electricity, leaving much of the original channel dry or nearly dry for parts of the year.
This year the dam’s gates closed June 6, roughly 10 days ahead of the normal June 15 date, after a snowy winter gave way to a long dry spell and the reservoir hit its licensed level. The DNR approved the utility’s request for the early change, and agency officials say the dam stayed within its license.
The rescue started with a tip. On Aug. 23, hikers crossing the river along the North Country Trail saw three sturgeon and alerted the DNR through its poaching tip line. What began as a search for three fish became three rescue trips with the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community and the utility, moving two fish, then 10, then 15 to flowing water downstream. Crews hauled them nearly a mile over boulders, eventually in backpacks lined with plastic and filled with water, which cut the carry to under 10 minutes a fish.
Now the DNR is going back through past river flow and water temperature records, and the three partners plan surveys over the next three years. If sturgeon keep getting stranded, changes to how the dam operates are possible, which could mean amending its federal license. Biologists suspect the fish swam into the channel during spring spawning while water was still flowing.
Lake sturgeon have been on Michigan’s threatened list since 1994, and stocking in the Ontonagon River began in 1998. The biggest rescued fish was 55 inches long, and none is thought to be older than 28. Because sturgeon can take until their teens or about age 20 to mature, the DNR said losing all 27 would have been a heavy blow to the river’s recovering population.
If a threatened species looks to be in immediate danger, the DNR wants a call at 800-292-7800. Other unusual fish or wildlife sightings can go through Michigan.gov/EyesInTheField.
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