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Town of Saukville — If you've been looking for a hopeful story, search no more.

It's right here in southeastern Wisconsin.

At its heart is an ancient native, the lake sturgeon.

Protagonists include the staff and volunteers at Riveredge Nature Center in Ozaukee County and fisheries personnel with the Department of Natural Resources.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service gets a nod, too, for assists with funding and overarching support.

And any entity that's helped improve water quality and aquatic habitat on the Milwaukee River over the last 50 years also gets credit. An estimated $5 billion has been invested — including the Deep Tunnel project and dam removals — in efforts to clean the Milwaukee River.

That's a lot of actors. But a restoration in an urban watershed doesn't happen easily. It's also what makes the story — in my view — grand.

If any species deserves such help, it's the sturgeon. The fish was here for millions of years, long before humans inhabited North America. It's also the largest fish in the Great Lakes, reaching more than 7 feet in length and more than 200 pounds.

Early settlers in the Milwaukee area found the local waters rich with fish.

Commercial nets came in heavily laden with preferred species such as whitefish, lake trout and yellow perch. Sturgeon, too, often were caught. But since they were less marketable and sometimes damaged the nets, they were killed.

Historical photos show sturgeon piled and burned like cordwood along Lake Michigan.

The population of lake sturgeon in the Milwaukee River basin and harbor was effectively wiped out by the early 1900s.

Dams blocked the fish's path up the river, stifling spawning runs.

For more than a century there has been no documentation of sturgeon spawning in the river.

But in recent decades humans provided a helping hand.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service started coordinating sturgeon stocking programs in the Great Lakes in the early 2000s, according to agency records. It sought partners to assist with the program. In 2005 the service had several partners in Michigan but none in Wisconsin.

That's when Rick Flood, former director of Riveredge Nature Center, contacted the agency and asked if the center could assist with sturgeon restoration in the Milwaukee River.

Within a year, the USFWS, DNR and Riveredge had a plan in place, said Mary Holleback, environmental educator at the center.

A portable "sturgeon wagon" was built and placed on property owned by Riveredge along the Milwaukee River. Funding included about $150,000 from the USFWS, including a grant through the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative.

The DNR provides fertilized sturgeon eggs obtained each spring from fish on the Wolf River.

The DNR trained Holleback and a legion of other Riveredge staff and volunteers to raise sturgeon. Once the eggs hatch and the sturgeon are growing, the Riveredge crew does nearly all the work.

"It's a lot like having a baby in the house," Holleback said. "Feedings at breakfast, lunch, dinner and once in the middle of the night."

The Riveredge project was given three years to prove itself. It passed with flying colors. In addition to fish feeding, the mostly volunteer crew must perform daily pump maintenance and tank cleaning.

"The Riveredge site is extremely well-run and the staff and volunteers are very impressive," said Brad Eggold, supervisor of the DNR's Lake Michigan Work Unit. "It's a real pleasure to work with them."

Since 2006, the small hatchery has raised and released about 9,500 young sturgeon, Holleback said.

It's a model partnership. State and federal agencies set a goal and provide financial and technical assistance. A local group provides a site for the hatchery and performs much of the work.

To highlight the project, Riveredge organizes an annual "Sturgeon Fest" in Milwaukee. The 2014 version will be held from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday at Lakeshore State Park in Milwaukee. The event is free and will include educational displays, kids' activities, food booths and release of the 2014 year class of sturgeon raised at Riveredge.

A $10 donation is suggested to name and release a sturgeon. Donors receive reports when "their" sturgeon are found later in life. Fish raised at Riveredge and stocked in the Milwaukee River have been found as far away as Escanaba, Mich. The fish are showing excellent growth rates of about 5 inches a year, Eggold said.

On Monday Eggold led a crew of DNR fisheries staff as the Riveredge sturgeon were weighed, measured, fin-clipped and tagged.

The Riveredge hatchery produced 1,129 sturgeon to be released Saturday. Most are from 6 to 8 inches long.

All are very charismatic. The hardy fish shrugged off the handling and are days from swimming free.

The final chapter won't be written until adult sturgeon once again spawn in the Milwaukee River. But given the remarkable partnership forged in the sturgeon comeback, I like the odds of a successful conclusion. I can hardly wait.

Don't you love a comeback story?

Walleye honors: Korey Sprengel of Beaver Dam won the Cabela's National Walleye Tour Championship on Lake Winnebago last weekend and Tom Kemos of Oconomowoc continued his steady performance to earn the tour's 2014 "Angler of the Year" title.

Sprengel, 26, weighed 43.69 pounds of walleyes over the three-day tournament, earning a first-place cash, boat and trailer package valued at $84,424.

Jacob Ell of Bismarck, N.D., finished second with Mark Courts of Harris, Minn., third.

Kemos won Angler of the Year for earning the most points in the four events. For the season-long top performance, Kemos was awarded a custom Lucas Oil ring and entry fees for the 2015 events (a $6,000 value).

Craig Cayemberg of Valders fished with Sprengel on the final day of the tournament and won the co-angler division by weighing 39.9 pounds. Cayemberg took home $6,663 in prize money.

Send email to psmith@journalsentinel.com