GREEN SPACE: Sturgeon spawning returns to the Detroit River

Nice to hear some good news about Detroit for a change: Lake sturgeon have spawned four times on the reef constructed last year at the head of Fighting Island in the Detroit River. This is the first time in 30 years that this threatened species has spawned in this neck of the river.

Building the reef was the first Canada-U.S. funded fish habitat restoration project in the Great Lakes. John H. Hartig, the refuge manager for the Detroit River International Wildlife Refuge housed on Grosse Ile, has this to say about the accomplishment: "Think of this: 35 years ago we had major oil slicks on the Detroit River, elevated phosphorus levels, much more raw sewage, much more contaminants like DDT, PCP and mercury."

"Now we've had these amazing environmental improvements, seeing this ecological comeback, seeing not just sturgeon, but whitefish and walleye, bald eagles and peregrine falcons. And if it's cleaner for them, then it's cleaner for you and me."

I couldn't resist asking Hartig about the beaver I spotted on Belle Isle last weekend (true!). I'd read that they returned to the river for the first time in 75 years, which he confirmed. "The beaver also points to the amazing recovery of this ecology," he says. "We've come an amazing distance."

Source: John Hartig, Detroit River International Wildlife Refuge
Writer: Kelli B. Kavanaugh

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GREEN SPACE: Sturgeon spawning returns to the Detroit River

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