Lake sturgeon continue to capture the interest and imagination of people in Northeast Wisconsin, where several populations have persisted for thousands of years.

Lake sturgeon have an important history in Northeast Wisconsin, and they continue to capture the interest and imagination of people from this region today.  Many of these people came out to learn more about this unusual fish earlier this summer at two guest lectures presented by Rob Elliott, Fish Biologist with the Green Bay National Fish and Wildlife Conservation Office (NFWCO).  Elliott was invited by two area educational institutions, the Neville Public Museum and Cross Roads at Big Creek, to provide guest lectures on lake sturgeon as part of each organizations public Natural History Lecture Series programs.  Cross Roads at Big Creek is an environmental education center located in Sturgeon Bay, Wis., and the Neville Museum is a prominent natural history museum in Green Bay. 

Elliott has been working with lake sturgeon in area waters of Green Bay and Lake Michigan for the past 10 years in coordination with other biologists and researchers around the Great Lakes.  His talks covered the current status of this species in local waters and explored some of the unusual life history characteristics that has sustained this species in the Great Lakes for thousands of years.  But as was discussed, some of these same characteristics are also what makes sturgeon susceptible to extirpation in today's world.  Elliott answered many questions and shared with attendees several new findings and initiatives that are important to current recovery efforts.  As he explained, the future for lake sturgeon in our area waters may be looking brighter, as long as people maintain their growing interest and involvement.