welcome to KazooSturgeon.ORG - sturgeon for tomorrow 
The Kalamazoo River Sturgeon Habitat Restoration Project in New Richmond Michigan

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  KazooSturgeon.org
EMAIL: ronaldc1@juno.com   
6176 122nd Ave. - Fennville, MI 49408

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OUR MISSION:
The mission of the Kalamazoo River Sturgeon for Tomorrow, New Richmond Chapter is to support the reestablishment and maintenance of a healthy, self-sustaining Lake Sturgeon population in the Kalamazoo River system by assisting fisheries managers, promoting public education, furthering scientific research and engaging in other activities consistent with Sturgeon habitat rehabilitation.

 FOR UP-TO-THE-MINUTE UPDATES,
VISIT OUR NEW BLOG AT:http://kazoosturgeonnews.blogspot.com/

COME TO OUR RELEASE EVENT CELEBRATION ON SEPTEMBER 6:


THE LATEST NEWS:  NEW (Mar. 24, 2014) - We took pictures of the Kalamazoo River conditions in anticipation of the arrival of the stream-side rearing facility (hatchery) April 2. We will be looking for help once we get some sturgeon eggs/spawn. The Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) with the Michigan DNR in cooperation and assistance with The Gun Lake Tribe, Allegan County Parks and Recreation. Thank you for your support!
We look forward to having an informational meeting soon.
 

http://www.michiganoutofdoorstv.com/shows.cfm?VideoID=270

ARTICLE:
Highlighting our project, from WMUK - CLICK HERE

- Monitoring River Conditions at New Richmond

For those of you who are interested in monitoring the River conditions, The US Government maintains a monitoring unit at the North end of the footbridge crossing the Kalamazoo River at New Richmond. It measures temperature, flow in gallons per second and other factors. You can monitor these conditions yourself by visiting the following link: http://waterdata.usgs.gov/mi/nwis/uv?site_no=04108660
  
   

news update briefs:

 
Tuesday, May 14, 2013: News from the Dam

Last night, we tried to catch some larval drift in the cone shaped nets up at the dam without success. Earlier in the day, we had caught a 50 year old female who had come to the dam to spawn and a younger male who had come to see what he could get. She was not ready to give up her eggs, so we kept her in a pen overnight to try again today. No luck. We had to let both go. We will try again on Friday to catch her and see if she is ready. We will continue trying to catch larval drift at night for at least the rest of the week. As of now we have only 4 small fish in the hatchery. We are all hoping that the warming weather brings us success in filling the hatchery. These are the two fish we had to release today. 

The following links were provided by Al Weener, Monday May 13:
1. "Species Profile - Production of Sturgeon paper"
2. The current issue of the American Fisheries Society/Fisheries.org publication featuring sturgeon info is available HERE
------------------------------------------------------------
Wednesday, May 1 - from Ron Clark:
Just talked to Kregg Smith. There is a female (sturgeon) at the dam, and it appears that she began laying eggs last night. We obtained 8 or 9 eggs in the "mats" that are laid out to catch eggs. Kreggs says he is optomistic that there will be more tomorrow as the eggs reach the mats. They will be out netting and shocking fish at the dam tomorrow. The 8 strugeon that we caught several weeks ago still have not reached the dam. They were implanted with tracking devices that work for about 180 days. Today was a good day.

VIEW THE NEWS ARCHIVE FOR PREVIOUS STORIES - CLICK HERE  
 

Our current goals are:
-
Supporting the stream-side rearing facility at the Allegan County Park in New Richmond
- Supporting research such as the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service grant to the Gun Lake Tribe. This grant has compiled information on the Kalamazoo River juvenile population.
- Applying for grants for river bank restoration and habitat enhancement.
- Educating and informing the community about the existence of this threatened species in the Kalamazoo River through event booths and community presentations.
- Forming partnerships in this work to promote a self-sustaining sturgeon population in the Kalamazoo River. 
 Board:
- President
, Al Weener
- Vice President, Tony Wolte
- Secretary, John Kalita, jbkal007@frontier.com
- Treasurer, Ron Clark, ronaldc1@juno.com
- At Large: Chris and Caroll Yoder,<cyoder@tds.net>
                  Marlin Fry
                  Paul Huber<phuber2505@sbcglobal.net>
 

Board meetings are usually held the first Mondays of each month. Location varies. All are welcome. Email us for location if you'd like
to attend.

 some of our sponsors and supporters:

- Overisel Lumber
- Crane's Pie Pantry
- Gun Lake Casino
- Roscoe Sound
- New Richmond House
- E & M Electric
- Michigan Sea Grant
- Match-E-Be-Nash-She-Wish-Band of Pottawatomi
  
- Frostbite Tours
- Sauers Thurber Construction
- Friends of Wolf Lake Hatchery
- Fresh Water Future
- Thirdstone Art & Design
- Allegan County Tourism Council
- Michigan Dep't Natural Resources
.


A BIT OF INFO ABOUT
OUR LAKE STURGEON

Lake Sturgeon (acipenser fulvescens) are amazing creatures dating back to prehistoric times. Sturgeon have a skeleton made partly of bone and partly of cartilage. Their slender bodies are covered with rows of bony plates. Beneath the projecting snout, there is a small, toothless mouth with thick sucking lips. There are four barbels (whiskers) in front of the mouth that are used to direct food. The body is well protected by its plates. A single dorsal fin rises from it's back.
In early summer, lake sturgeons migrate toward the shores of freshwater lakes for spawning purposes.

They seek out pebbly habitats that have no mud in which to breed and spawn. (Evans 1994).

Spawning usually takes place at a depth of 5.4 to 6.0 meters. The females lay a vast number of eggs, anywhere from 2 to 3 million in one season, depending on their size and age.

After spawning, the eggs are left to develop on their own.
The parents will then return to the lake or river where they spend most of their time.(Rodgers 1990)

 
 

 

HOME

MEET THE STURGEON

PHOTOS/PROJECT INFO

BECOME A MEMBER

NEWS - BLOG

LINKS & RESOURCES

OUR ONLINE SHOP
   

 SEE OUR 2012 FIRST RELEASE EVENT

 2014 RELEASE EVENT