The Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians, the Little River Band of Ottawa Indians, and the Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians have begun a multi-year effort to restore Arctic grayling to northern Michigan rivers. The fish disappeared from the state by the 1930s, driven out by logging, overfishing, and competition from non-native species. Eggs were sourced from Alaska's Chena River, where grayling populations are healthy and genetically diverse, and the project represents years of planning and millions of dollars in state, federal, and private funding.
So far, the results are mixed. The Grand Traverse Band raised about 8,000 young grayling this year and released them into the Boardman-Ottaway River — four times as many as in the previous year, when a power outage killed most of the fish. The Little River Band stocked 391,000 eggs in in-stream incubators on the Manistee River, with estimated hatch rates of 50 to 60 percent and tens of thousands of fry observed leaving the incubators. Still, none of the tribes have recaptured a single grayling in the wild, a challenge one biologist compared to finding a needle in a river-sized haystack.
Climate change adds another layer of uncertainty. The Little Traverse Bay Bands have been hampered by ice storms and flooding, which made survey sites inaccessible. Kris Dey, the tribe's hatchery manager, noted that grayling need cold water and that Michigan rivers are likely to warm in the future, making long-term planning difficult. Despite these obstacles, tribal leaders remain hopeful, emphasizing that restoring the fish is also a way of restoring cultural traditions. Biologists say it will take six to eight years to know whether the reintroduction can succeed.