Sturgeon Habitat Project
A project to create sturgeon spawning reefs in the Detroit River in the waters off Belle Isle was one of two projects announced by the City of Detroit and the Detroit Recreation Department at a Nov. 20 press conference. A second project will restore a natural area on the banks of Belle Isle’s Blue Heron Lagoon. The two projects total nearly $850,000.

The sturgeon habitat project is funded by grants from NOAA’s Great Lakes Coastal Restoration Program, through the Michigan Coastal Management Program, and the Great Lakes Fishery Trust with additional support from multiple partners. The Michigan Sea Grant College Program and the City’s consultant, SmithGroupJJR, will manage and implement the effort.

The project will enhance spawning habitat for the lake sturgeon, a threatened species in Michigan. Although sturgeon formerly reproduced abundantly in the Detroit River, recent studies have found few places where they currently reproduce.

The project will also develop educational displays in the Belle Isle Aquarium, where visitors can see live sturgeon, the largest fish in the Great Lakes. Visual presentations about the sturgeon reef project will also be on display at the Dossin Great Lakes Museum and the Belle Isle Nature Zoo.

Pictured above at the Nov. 20 press conference are (from left) Charles Beckham, Detroit Parks & Recreation; Alicia Minter, Riverfront Parks; Lloyd Semple, Metropolitan Affairs Commission; Bruce Manny, U.S. Geological Survey; John Hartig, Greater Detroit American Heritage River Initiative; Carolyn Williams Meza, City of Detroit Chief Operating Officer; Doug Denison, SmithGroup JJR/Great Lakes Fishery Trust; Bob Reider, DTE Energy/Great Lakes Fishery Trust; William Taylor, Michigan Sea Grant; Roberta Urbani, DTE Energy; Lynda Sanchez, Michigan Coastal Management Program, Department of Environmental Quality.

For more information about lake sturgeon, see The Life of the Lakes