Right now there are two aging wolves on Isle Royale, a male and female, but that looks like it could change.
With the moose population soaring past 1,300, their sheer numbers have caused over browsing on the island, damaging tree and plant life. To restore the ecology of the Island and the genetic diversity of the wolves, the National Park Service (NPS) is proposing to introduce 20 to 30 wolves over the next three years.
The NPS made its announcement on Friday, December 16.
Dr. Rolf Peterson, a wildlife ecologist who spent more than 40 years on the Michigan Tech predator/prey study, said he was happy to learn about the park’s decision. He and fellow partner and Dr. John Vucetich, an ecologist from Michigan Technological University who joined Peterson in the early 1990s, have been strong advocates for adding wolves to the island.
In 2014 Vucetich and Peterson pressed the park service to bring more wolves to the island.
“We were not able to document wolf reproduction on Isle Royale in 2014, and if that proves to be true then there has been no reproductive success during three of the last four years,” Peterson said at that time.
At 45 miles long and 143,000 acres, Isle Royale is the least visited national park, and is only open to visitors in the summer. It is a perfect place to conduct a predator/prey study, which Michigan Tech began in almost 70 years ago and is the longest study of its kind ever conducted. If the wolves die, so too, will the study.
Isle Royale Superintendent Phyllis Green said the proposal is not just about wolves, but it is for the good of the whole ecosystem.
Over the last two years, the NPS has looked at a variety of alternatives for the management of moose, wolves, and vegetation at Isle Royale. The moose-wolf-vegetation food web is tightly coupled, and the park’s plan takes into account those relationships.
Climate change is also factoring into the NPS decision. In the past wolves would come from the mainland over winter ice, but the lake only freezes over every 15 years or so today, leaving less chance for new genes to be reintroduced to the breeding pool.
Researchers have found that the remaining wolves on Isle Royale have been subject to inbreeding, and because of that, they are more susceptible to disease. Inbreeding has also caused them to suffer from a deformity called lumbosacral transitional vertebrae.
While the park’s preference is to introduce the wolves immediately, that probably won’t happen. First, there will be a 90-day public comment period followed by technical details that must be worked out, which, said Green, will probably leave the reintroduction of wolves to the island in the winter of 2018-2019.
In 2014 Peterson told the Cook County News- Herald “Based on history, two dozen wolves corresponds to two or three packs.”
The NPS plan is open for public comment until March 15. Comments can be submitted online at parkplanning.nps.gov/isrowolves or sent to: Superintendent Phyllis Green, Isle Royale National Park, ISRO Wolves, 800 East Lakeshore Drive, Houghton, MI, 49931- 1896.
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