Yes indeed unfortunate. The reality is this: It is BETTER for the resource (survival of the sturgeon) to keep them UNLISTED. The folks that watch the sturgeon spawn on the Wolf River each spring (think of the type of folks that go to Yellowstone to look at the Grizzlies, Bison, etc.) aren't the ones providing the funding that does exist in this state to help the resource. The Center for Biological Diversity along with other conservation organizations would have helped the resource more by taking the money they put into the lawsuit and other causes and instead directly donating it to the WDNR where they could have further funded their programs for improvement of the waterbodies with Sturgeon.
Isn't that a sad reality about our society?
Except that if listed, there are likely more funds available for restoration.
Losing the fishery would be a massive blow to the sturgeon's social acceptance, and that's a huge part of the matrix that has to be considered.