Kletzsch Park in Glendale along the Milwaukee River is not one of Milwaukee County’s largest greenspaces, but it’s a picturesque and popular one.
The main attraction is the park’s dam that looks more like a gentle waterfall than a barrier.
But the structure is too high for some fish in spawning mode to jump the dam.
Tuesday, a crowd celebrated the completion of the more than $2 million fish passage that could solve that problem.
Max Kinstler, fishing pole in hand, was happily oblivious to the commotion.
Last year, crews moved earth and placed huge rocks to create the fish passage in Kletzsch Park. They carved out a series of riffles and pools so fish can swim around, rather than jump over, the dam.
As construction was underway, Kinstler missed a cherished pastime.
“I didn’t get a chance to fish out here much last season because of all the stuff going on, but I kept an eye on it because I’m very interested in this spot,” Kinstler said.
Tuesday morning with the fish passage complete, he cast his line into a sparking Milwaukee River.
“I’ll fish the river pretty much any time that there’s not ice over it,” he said.
In the fall, Kinstler especially enjoys salmon spawning season, so he said if the passage “helps salmon get further upstream, I’d love to see that.”
Kinstler describes himself as a dedicated catch-and-release guy. “Truthfully, sometimes I don’t even really want to catch fish. I just want experience nature. To me, it’s one of my happy places,” he said.
Salmon are Kinstler’s passion, but another species stands to benefit from the passage — lake sturgeon.
The giant prehistoric-looking fish was once plentiful in Lake Michigan and the Milwaukee River system, but its numbers plummeted due to overfishing and pollution.
Now lake sturgeon numbers are rising, thanks to years of restoration efforts.
Sturgeon are not jumpers, so being able to swim around the Kletzsch Dam will offer them access to miles of the Milwaukee River, its tributaries and wetlands. That means more healthy spawning opportunities.
Tom Burzynski was part of the crowd enjoying the Kletzsch celebration. “It’s really something to see fish, you know mature fish, coming back to the river after all these years,” Burzynski said.
A longtime DNR fisheries technician — now retired, Burzynski was part of the team that helped build up the lake sturgeon population.
The work started 21 years ago.
“2006 started the effort with these streamside rearing facilities, which was really a wonderful thing because it not only allowed fish to be raised on Milwaukee river water, but we were able to work with this tremendous group of volunteers at Riveredge,” Burzynski said.
That’s Riveredge Nature Center, located upstream in Saukville. Mary Holleback is citizen science manager there.
"In fact, they’re there right now working with our little tiny fingerlings. Oh, I’d say about 6,000 of them at this point. And they will continue to grow in the streamside rearing facility until they’re released in the fall,” Holleback explained.
The Kletzsch passage will be followed by additional work in the park to help more people enjoy the river. That’s according to Sarah Toomsen, principal landscape architect and assistant director of planning with Milwaukee County Parks.
“We’re hoping to follow up this project immediately with a design for an improved overlook on the west bank of the dam and that will include ADA access to the river as well as portage around the dam and the fishway so that paddlers have a safe way to get around Kletzsch Dam,” Toomsen said.
She said planning will also lay out how to care for and maintain the fish passage. “But we’re so pleased to see it already being used by different fish already."
Mark Denning closed the official celebration. An enrolled member of the Oneida Tribe of Wisconsin, Denning addressed the crowd in the language of his people with the sound of water rushing behind his words.
“There was a time in the history of this place when that one of the only languages that was spoken. There would be multiple migrations that would happen in order. And what I want to share with you is I am a part of that order and my clan is Sturgeon Clan,” Denning said.
He described the work in Kletzsch Park as a sign of healing.
“With each removal, each fish passage, our communities can be stronger. And when I say our communities, I mean those of our natural relatives, not just humans. The ‘we’ is beyond you standing here. The ‘we’ is a dad and a mom and a grandma and a granddaughter who come here, outside of your view to connect with this natural world and remind themselves that justice does live, and our creation does have a face and they can see it here and be better for it,” Denning concluded.
Support for Environmental Reporting is provided, in part, by Brico Fund.
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