lincoln park and estabrook falls river and trees

Estabrook Falls Fish Passage

Project Update

This project is funded through a federal grant that was frozen. We are ready to hire a contractor to construct the project whenever the grant funds become available again, but there is a small window in which we are allowed to do work in the river, so if funding is not released soon, the project construction may be delayed at least a year.

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Project Overview

Fish passage along the Milwaukee River is critical for native fish, such as northern pike and lake sturgeon, to reach higher-quality spawning and nursery habitat in the upper reaches of the river. These native fish are weak jumpers and unable to move past the dam to complete their travels upstream to spawn. When man-made barriers prohibit or delay fish movement in our waterways, fish passage facilities can be used to help fish move through or around the barrier to get where they need to go.

Estabrook Falls is not a natural waterfall; it is a relic of historic bedrock mining. When rock was mined downstream of the falls and mining stopped at the falls location, a partial barrier to fish passage was created. It is considered a partial barrier because during very high flow conditions, the falls disappears, and fish can get past it. However, most of the time it is not possible for many native fish to swim upstream past it. When the Kletzsch Fish Passage was constructed, Estabrook Falls became the new largest barrier to fish passage in the lower part of the river. The goal of this project is to modify Estabrook Falls to allow native fish to migrate past the falls to reach important spawning and feeding areas upstream.