By Rebecca Hogue Wojahn

The story of a fascinating fish and the forward-thinking people who saved them in Wisconsin.

For millennia, sturgeon swam the waterways of Wisconsin. Before the 1800s, an estimated eleven million sturgeon lived in Lake Michigan alone. Menominee and Ojibwe people depended on the fish for food and harvested them sustainably. But in the early 1900s, the lake sturgeon was near extinction. Saving Our Sturgeon tells the remarkable story of lake sturgeon in Wisconsin, the conservation efforts to save the species, and what is being done to keep the population healthy and thriving today.

Readers will learn about the natural history of the lake sturgeon—its anatomy, behavior, and habitat—and the factors that threatened its survival, from overharvesting to the building of dams that prevented sturgeon from reaching spawning areas. The book, written for young readers aged ten and up, explains how government agencies, conservationists, and citizen groups worked together to save the sturgeon population in Wisconsin.

Saving Our Sturgeon includes a chapter about the Menominee Nation’s work to revitalize cultural traditions focused on the sturgeon and restore access to the fish on their reservation. The book also highlights how young people can get involved with sturgeon conservation efforts.

A great resource for classroom use, Saving Our Sturgeon contains maps, photos, and diagrams, plus a glossary of terms, a timeline of events, a Who’s Who list of individuals and groups featured in the book, and a bibliography that highlights kid-friendly sources to learn more. Young readers will learn basic facts about sturgeon biology, what it means for a species to be threatened or endangered, and how scientists use data to support repopulation. This inspiring book shares a conservation success story about one remarkable (and plenty peculiar) species of fish and shows young readers how they, too, can help protect these incredible creatures.

Find Saving Our Sturgeon at your favorite book retailer or in our online store.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Rebecca Hogue Wojahn is the author of many books for children, including the nonfiction picture book Glow: Animals with Their Own Night-Lights; the historical biography Dr. Kate: Angel on Snowshoes (Wisconsin Historical Society Press); and the educational nonfiction series Follow That Food Chain. Her books have been honored by Junior Library Guild, the National Science Teachers Association, and Bank Street Best Books of the Year, and have won numerous state and regional awards. When Wojahn isn’t writing, she talks books, fiddles with technology, and teaches kids as a school media and technology integration specialist (a.k.a. librarian) in Eau Claire, Wisconsin.

Anne Moser (consultant) is a senior special librarian with the Wisconsin Water Library on the Madison campus and education coordinator with Wisconsin Sea Grant. She has devoted 14 years to teaching Great Lakes literacy to all ages.