Sturgeon's reintroduction at White Earth

The Water Library recently attended a keynote address by Winona LaDuke, an Anishinaabe activist from Minnesota's White Earth Ojibwe Reservation. In town for the Nelson Institute's Tales from Planet Earth Environmental Film Festival, her talk often focused on water.

Sturgeon, especially. Even a "Sturgeon General."

The White Earth band, located in northwestern Minnesota, has been restocking its waterways with the ancient fish for nearly a decade. With assistance from the Rainy River First Nations' hatchery in Canada, and their "Sturgeon General," Joe Hunter, the program has become increasingly successful. White Earth and Round Lakes are stocked with thousands of fry every year. Sturgeon are swimming again where they haven't been seen in decades.

And White Earth isn't alone. Efforts at resuscitating lost sturgeon populations are occurring throughout the Upper Midwest.

To learn more about White Earth's sturgeon program, read LaDuke's book Recovering the sacred: The power of naming and claiming. Cambridge, MA: South End Press

Or, check out the Water Libary's related reading lists:

Native Americans and the Environment
More about sturgeon