The Union Street Dam is the last impediment to a free-flowing Boardman River. Downstream of the dam is a popular fishing spot.
Credit Lexi Krupp / IPR News
A five-foot-long female sturgeon was spotted this week in the Boardman River in Traverse City. Fishery experts say there's ideal spawning habitat for the species upstream, but the large fish can’t get there — there’s a dam in the way.
The proposed FishPass project at the Union Street Dam could allow native fish like sturgeon to swim up the Boardman River, while keeping invasives at bay, says Marc Gaden, from the Great Lakes Fishery Commission.