Written by: Audrey Sochor
Sturgeon Festival returns for another year on Saturday, June 2, but gearing the public up for the event starts months in advance. On Monday Sheri Faust, environmental educator for the St. Clair County Health Department, stopped by Michigamme Elementary to teach students about the prehistoric fish.
“Before we have the festival for the public on [June 2], we invite 5th graders to come out earlier in the week to take a sturgeon cruise on the Huron Lady to interact with scientists out in Lake Huron doing tagging and sturgeon work,” Faust said.
The cruise for the students is free, but their “ticket” to get on board the Huron Lady is a piece of artwork they create using facts about sturgeon they learned during Faust’s visit. She said it could be anything from a poster to a story or poem.
Faust added sturgeon are a threatened species, so it’s important to create awareness. The school visits allow her to share facts about the distinctive fish, the laws in place to protect them and how the students can also get involved to defend them from harm.
“Sturgeon are unique to the Blue Water Area because there’s more sturgeon living in the St. Clair River than there is anywhere else in the Great Lakes,” Faust said. “We want students to know about that and families to know about that. That’s why we hold the Sturgeon Festival.”
To learn more about the Blue Water Sturgeon Festival visit www.sturgeonfestival.com.
