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POWELL — Launching into a hot chocolate-colored river, a three-man team began their final search of the spring for a survivor from the Jurassic period.

One shift away from finishing a five-year study, the crew cast off into the fast-flowing river hoping to capture a record amount of shovelnose sturgeon. They were looking to track the progress of a reintroduction project that began more than two decades ago.

In 1996, Wyoming Game and Fish Department biologists stocked sturgeon in the Bighorn River in an attempt to create a unique sport fishing opportunity for anglers and to return the species to one of their native habitats. Looking at the fish with four fleshy whiskers and body armor leaves no doubt that this is an ancient species.

“It’s a dinosaur,” said Cody Region fisheries biologist Joe Skorupski.

For the past four years, Skorupski has spent countless hours battling the elements on the river, analyzing the success of the program. Mother Nature hasn’t been helpful.

“Since the start of this project we’ve had high water years. Big water years,” Skorupski said while piloting the department’s custom jon boat against the current.