Nestled deep sits the Sturgeon General watching all that goes on in the Nechako River. He watches the baby salmon grow into big salmon and with a teary wave watches the baby salmon go off into the world on their own.
In November 2003, the white sturgeon was downgraded in ranking from a species of special concern to endangered. On August 24, 2006, the white sturgeon populations of the Nechako, Upper Fraser, Kootenay, and Columbia were officially designated as endangered under the Federal Species at Risk Act. A survivor from before the time of the dinosaurs and a species relatively unchanged for 175 million years, this fish has, in the last 50 years, come to the brink of extinction.
No wonder the Sturgeon General is such a shy cautious fellow.