On Sept. 25, Michigan State University will celebrate 25 years of conducting lake sturgeon research at the Black Lake Stream Side Rearing Facility in Onaway, Michigan.
The on-campus Sturgeon Palooza event will highlight how partnerships formed among MSU and state, federal, tribal and non-governmental organizations have helped to save a once-thriving sturgeon population from extirpation in parts of the Great Lakes region.
The impact MSU has had when it comes to sturgeon can be observed many ways, said Scott Colborne, an MSU Department of Fisheries and Wildlife assistant professor who took over MSU’s sturgeon research program in 2024 for Kim Scribner, a professor emeritus in the same department.
“Twenty-five years of research has taught us an incredible amount about lake sturgeon and what it takes to restore these populations,” Colborne said. “We can see that in the recovery of the Black Lake population, in young sturgeon once again showing up in places like Saginaw Bay, and in more than 80 scientific publications that have expanded our understanding of these fish. But one of the most exciting things about a program like this is that the value of the work continues to grow. We now have decades of data, new tools and experience that allow us to ask questions that simply weren’t possible when the program started.