Wolf management a disaster

[Lee Borgersen]

Wolf management is a disaster  

  ....
The federal government has made a mess of trying to manage gray wolves. From a botched attempt to delist them from protection under the Endangered Species Act to the debacles at Isle Royale, this has been one screw up after another.

Those hoping for common sense cheered  when they read the Republicans who still controlled the House passed a bill to drop legal protections for gray wolves in the lower 48 states. That bill is dead on arrival in the Senate.

But the passage of the bill in the House shows the frustration in how the Fish and Wildlife Service has been able to beat back repeated court challenges. The feds attempt to delist and return management to the state and the wolf groups fire up their lawyers and get a friendly judge in Washington to stop the delisting.

[Leech~~]

Hopefully at some point the fuzzy folks will at least agree that not every Wolf can all live in Minnesota!   
Please share the love around! 

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[Rebel SS]

"I'm outta here", said the Minnesota wolf.....


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[Steve-o]

What are the debacles at Isle Royale?

[Lee Borgersen]

What are the debacles at Isle Royale?

 ............. start here

 


http://mnoutdoorsman.com/forums/index.php?topic=36307.0

[Steve-o]

I guess I don't see the wolf/moose study on Isle Royale as a debacle with respect to wolf management since it is an isolated ecosystem - unless I'm missing something.

Given my druthers, I'd say if you have too many moose on Isle Royale - manage the population with a hunting season.  And if that isn't politically correct enough, make it a special hunt for Combat Wounded Veterans.

But I guess if you want to put wolves back on there and let nature do it course all over again, it ain't that big of a deal.  I'd expect the same thing to happen again.  The wolf to moose ratio will go back and forth until one population or the other gets too inbred to reproduce.  But that is why you actually do the science.

[Lee Borgersen]

   Isle Royale wolf transplant to advance.

1/29/19 Update

DULUTH -- Six wolves from Ontario’s Michipicoten Island in Lake Superior will be moved to Isle Royale in coming days thanks to a grant intended to “shutdown proof” the National Park Service effort from future federal budget woes.

The $50,000 grant from the National Parks of Lake Superior Foundation allowed wildlife agencies from both sides of the border to make plans in recent weeks for the wolf relocation, which could happen as soon as there are four straight days of stable, calm weather forecast.


The wolves will join three Minnesota wolves brought to the island last fall, all aimed at replenishing the island’s beleaguered native wolf population that had dwindled to just two animals, a male and female unable to successfully mate due to inbreeding and genetic deformities.

The relocations are aimed at restoring some sense of predator-prey balance on the island, which has nearly 2,000 moose with no other predators. The project was opposed by some critics who wanted to let nature take its course even if it meant having no predators on the island.

The grant also will pay for ongoing monitoring of the new wolves even if another shutdown occurs. The government appears to be funded through Feb. 15, but future funding remains in limbo over disagreements between President Donald Trump and Democrats in Congress.

The foundation also has made another $55,000 available to the Interior Department, which oversees the National Park Service, to cover any Park Service costs for the ongoing island research by Michigan Technological University researchers every winter since 1959. That effort appeared doomed for this winter when the National Park Service said the island would be off-limits during the shutdown.

It appeared the shutdown would scuttle this year’s research, but Rolf Peterson, who has headed the project for decades, said Monday, Jan. 28, that the field team is making plans to go to the island within the next week.

“We still have time to salvage this year. February is the most important month for us,” Peterson said. “And the foundation hopes to have the money available so that if another shutdown happens, we can stay out there and finish the work.”

Sona Mehring, chairman of the foundation, said they are “working directly with Michigan Tech and Department of Interior to ensure” the winter wolf-moose research “can move forward regardless of any additional shutdowns that threaten to interrupt the study.”

The annual research project is the longest-running predator-prey study in the world. The research is considered especially important this winter, just months after several Minnesota wolves were moved to the island to bolster the beleaguered island wolves.

The 45-mile-long, 143,000-acre Isle Royale archipelago is about 14 miles off Minnesota's North Shore. It's mostly dedicated as federal wilderness.

Wolves are relatively new to the island, having crossed the ice in the 1940s. Their numbers reached a high of 50 in 1980. Wolf numbers on the island crashed from 24 as recently as 2009 to just a 7-year-old female and 9-year-old male. Moose came to the island much earlier in the 1900s, peaking at 2,445 in 1995 and hitting bottom at just 385 in 2007. In their annual survey last winter, scientists estimated the moose herd had grown to about 1,600 on the island.

A new grant will allow the relocation of up to six Ontario wolves to Isle Royale in coming days even if the federal government shuts down again. Another grant will cover ongoing research on the Lake Superior island. Michigan Tech photo

             

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[Jerkbiat]

Another example that man knows better than mother nature.

[Lee Borgersen]

    Female wolf leaves Isle Royale across ice.

  .....
ISLE ROYALE NATIONAL PARK - Isle Royale National Park officials on Wednesday, Feb. 6, reported that a single female wolf, one of three transplanted to the island for the Grand Portage Reservation in October, made its way onto the ice and back to shore in Ontario. That leaves just two transplanted wolves and two native wolves left on the island.

  ..
With only two wolves left, unable to successfully mate, the Park Service last year began an effort to bring more wolves to the island. The bolting female ended up on the North Shore just across the Pigeon River from Minnesota, not far from where it was trapped to be brought to the island.


The movement was confirmed with radio telemetry and GPS tracking, both by Park Service and Michigan Technological University wildlife biologists.

  ....
Wolves originally made their way to the island crossing the ice and, over many years, built up a solid population, feeding on the wealth of moose on Isle Royale. But in recent years, with fewer ice bridges forming during more frequent warmer winters, no new wolves arrived. The wolves that remained became inbred and genetically defective, leading to their numbers crashing over the last decade.

The 45-mile-long, 143,000-acre Isle Royale archipelago is about 14 miles off Minnesota's North Shore.


A female wolf, trapped on the Grand Portage Chippewa Reservation this week, walks out of a kennel at her new home: Isle Royale National Park. Four new wolves are now roaming the island. National Park Service photo

     

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[Rebel SS]

God, stop screwing around with the wildlife!!! 

[Jerkbiat]

X2!!!!

[Gunner55]

    Female wolf leaves Isle Royale across ice.

  .....
ISLE ROYALE NATIONAL PARK - Isle Royale National Park officials on Wednesday, Feb. 6, reported that a single female wolf, one of three transplanted to the island for the Grand Portage Reservation in October, made its way onto the ice and back to shore in Ontario. That leaves just two transplanted wolves and two native wolves left on the island.

  ..
With only two wolves left, unable to successfully mate, the Park Service last year began an effort to bring more wolves to the island. The bolting female ended up on the North Shore just across the Pigeon River from Minnesota, not far from where it was trapped to be brought to the island.


The movement was confirmed with radio telemetry and GPS tracking, both by Park Service and Michigan Technological University wildlife biologists.

  ....
Wolves originally made their way to the island crossing the ice and, over many years, built up a solid population, feeding on the wealth of moose on Isle Royale. But in recent years, with fewer ice bridges forming during more frequent warmer winters, no new wolves arrived. The wolves that remained became inbred and genetically defective, leading to their numbers crashing over the last decade.

The 45-mile-long, 143,000-acre Isle Royale archipelago is about 14 miles off Minnesota's North Shore.


A female wolf, trapped on the Grand Portage Chippewa Reservation this week, walks out of a kennel at her new home: Isle Royale National Park. Four new wolves are now roaming the island. National Park Service photo

     

It was on the Duluth news Wednesday as well, gotta agree Reb, JB

[Steve-o]

Question...

Since there is an ice bridge that allowed this female wolf to try returning home...

And if there are so many tasty, vulnerable moose on the island...

What has been keeping just any ol' pack of wolves, or even a lone, male for that matter, from crossing over to the island all these years?

Or what kept previous generations of the Isle Royale wolves on the island during winters when the ice froze over?

Obviously we there are things we don't understand about wolf territory, pack behavior, and animal geo-location abilities.

This is an interesting development.

[Rebel SS]

From the Ely Echo...


The federal government has made a mess of trying to manage gray wolves. From a botched attempt to delist them from protection under the Endangered Species Act to the debacles at Isle Royale, this has been one screw up after another.
Those hoping for common sense cheered when they read the Republicans who still control the House passed a bill to drop legal protections for gray wolves in the lower 48 states. That bill is dead on arrival in the Senate.
But the passage of the bill in the House shows the frustration in how the Fish and Wildlife Service has been able to beat back repeated court challenges. The feds attempt to delist and return management to the state and the wolf groups fire up their lawyers and get a friendly judge in Washington to stop the delisting.
In Minnesota we’ve got plenty of wolves and instead of hailing what should be a monumental achievement to save a species, we’re left with a bad taste when judges thousands of miles away decide having over 2,600 wolves in Minnesota doesn’t matter.
The wolf protection groups want to see wolves throughout the lower 48, even if the wolves don’t think this is a great idea.
About 5,000 wolves live in the lower 48 states, occupying less than 10 percent of their historic range.
If that wasn’t bad enough, we’ve been watching what’s going on at Isle Royale. Here the wolf population got down to two and there was no reproduction. So the feds decided to bring wolves in to keep the moose population in check. But the best laid plans of mice and men…
Transfering wolves from Minnesota and other areas has been a gong show. One male and three females were successfully moved to the island but then one male died. Actually this was the second wolf to die, the first one died in September after being captured.
Then there is this strange fact.
“Park officials shot six moose and spread some of the meat to give the new arrivals a temporary food supply,” according to the AP.
In Minnesota we’ve got moose dying off left and right with no solution in sight. We’ve got a wolf population that at the least is steady and more likely growing. On Isle Royale they’re killing the moose to feed the wolves which are dying as they’re being brought there.
Only the government could come up with this scenario.
We’ve long advocated for the Minnesota DNR to take an active role in looking to manage the wolf population in the state. Instead the DNR and attorney general’s office have sat on their hands and done nothing.
Nobody likes to talk about the wolves that were trapped and shot earlier this year in areas where dogs were being harvested in backyards south of Ely. But those things happen when your management plans is decided by judges instead of by science.

[Leech~~]

AMEN! 

[LPS]

Darn right Rebs.  MOVE SOME MOOSE!!!  Who can't see that as a viable option?  Get some of them here and see what happens.  May be great for our herd to get new blood introduced. 

[Rebel SS]

Totally agree, Barry, DNR just doesn't have a clue. In fact, I was able to obtain a pic off their Game Cam that has them stumped....

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[LPS]

 

[Lee Borgersen]

      Last Michipicoten Island wolves going to Isle Royale

Today 3/22 at 4:48 p.m

 
A half-dozen more Lake Superior island wolves will get a free ride across the big lake in coming days as the effort continues to restock Isle Royale with new wolves.

The estimated four to six wolves remaining on Ontatrio’s Michipicoten Island in northeastern Lake Superior will be trapped and flown to Isle Royale. They'll join two wolves brought from the same island last month and two more brought from Northeastern Minnesota last autumn.


The Michipicoten Island wolves are on the verge of collapse because they have eaten all the remaining caribou on the island, have no other prey and no way to get off.

The emergency $100,000 wolf transfer was funded by the National Parks of Lake Superior Foundation with support from the Minnesota-based International Wolf Center. They are still asking supporters to help through a GoFundMe campaign to raise the final $25,000 needed.

The trap and transfer was expected to start Friday, March 22, or Saturday, March 23.

The inter-island, cross-border transfer underscores the unusual plight of wildlife in the Lake Superior region. Michipicoten Island had a burgeoning population of caribou for decades until a wolf pack crossed over ice during the extreme winter of 2014. Since then, the wolves had killed nearly all the island caribou. Several of the last remaining caribou were airlifted to another Lake Superior island in 2018 — one with no wolves — to preserve the region’s last native caribou herd.

But that left the remaining wolves starving.

The new wolves will be welcome at Isle Royale, where wolf numbers had dropped to just two in recent years, a male and female, father and daughter, unable to successfully mate and genetically deformed. The National Park Service decided in recent years to supplement the wolves on Isle Royale to restore a predator-prey balance with the island’s hundreds of moose.

“We are close to realizing the goal of providing another capture opportunity to move these iconic wolves to an island that needs them in its ecosystem,” said Sona Mehring, chairwoman of the National Parks of Lake Superior Foundation, in a statement Thursday.

The 45-mile-long, 143,000-acre Isle Royale archipelago is about 14 miles off Minnesota's North Shore. It's mostly dedicated as federal wilderness and a national park.

Wolves are relatively new to the island, having crossed the ice in the 1940s. Their numbers reached a high of 50 in 1980. Wolf numbers on the island crashed from 24 as recently as 2009 to just a 7-year-old female and 9-year-old male now. Moose came to the island much earlier in the 1900s, peaking at 2,445 in 1995 and hitting bottom at just 385 in 2007. In their annual survey last winter, scientists estimated the moose herd had grown to about 1,600 on the island.

Experts say the rapid change in climate in the region, with far fewer years of solid ice between island and mainland, have exacerbated the problem. Wolves on the mainland rarely have a chance to get onto the islands and, when they do, become isolated from new bloodlines for years without ice bridges.

Ironically, this year a solid ice bridge did form between the North Shore and Isle Royale and one wolf used it — to leave Isle Royale and go home to the Grand Portage reservation where it was trapped last fall.

When askin how da wolves felt about dis whole situation day simply stated dat.......

Reply.......
https://www.bing.com/search?mkt=en-US&FORM=IA10AR&pc=RTME&q=wolf+sounds

[Leech~~]

All very interesting. Kind of a Rob Peter to pay Paul deal. 
At least the Cuncuks are saying get these dam Wolves away from our Caribou! 

To bad we don't care about our Moose like they do about their Caribou!   


Woodland caribou

Michipicoten Island played host to an indigenous caribou population until the herd's extirpation, as a result of overhunting, in the mid-1800s. In 1981, a lone male caribou was observed on the island; how it arrived there remains unknown.[7] In 1982, additional caribou - one male, three adult females and three female calves - were moved to the island from the Slate Islands by the Ministry of Natural Resources. An additional male was translocated in 1989.[15] From the time of these relocations to 2001, the herd population increased at λ = 1.18 {\displaystyle \lambda =1.18} {\displaystyle \lambda =1.18} to arrive at approximately 160 animals in 2001. A population determination performed in 2011 concluded that the herd had grown to 680 animals. At times, the rate of population growth was among the fastest ever recorded for caribou.[16]

In the winter of 2014, four wolves transited to Michipicoten Island. This was facilitated by an ice bridge which had formed between the island and the mainland.[17] The wolf population had more than tripled by the winter of 2016/2017. The 2017/2018 wolf population count is anticipated to reveal approximately 20 wolves present on the island.[18] The decline in the caribou population as resulting from the presence of the wolves has raised the concern that the caribou population is in danger of extirpation[17] as soon as the winter of 2017/2018.[19]

The caribou population of Michipicoten Island is scientifically significant because it manifests an opportunity to apply A. T. Bergerud's proposed test to assess the viability of the range hypothesis versus the predation hypothesis[20][15] for providing a credible explanation for caribou population decline. Adapted to Michipicoten Island, Bergerud's proposed test was two-part: First, the caribou population on Michipicoten Island should increase despite the lack of lichen in the island's Great Lakes/St. Lawrence Forest. This happened, and it indicated that lichen was not a critical requirement in the diet of caribou. Second, after the appearance of wolves, the population of caribou should decline. Should these population trends emerge, it would indicate conclusively that wolf predation, and not a lack of lichen as forwarded by the range hypothesis, was a key factor in the decline of caribou throughout North America.

The caribou population of Michipicoten Island is ecologically significant because it and the Slate Islands caribou population are all that conclusively and verifiably remain of a caribou population which was once found throughout the federally-recognized ON6 Lake Superior caribou range.[21] Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry/Parks Canada 2016 caribou populations surveys failed to conclusively observe any caribou remaining in the lands along the north shore of Lake Superior.[22]