A female wolf brought to Isle Royale from Grand Portage last October has returned to the Grand Portage area after walking home across an ice bridge that formed during this recent extreme cold weather.
The wolf was tracked through its radio collar.
Immediately following the end of the government shutdown, National Park Service (NPS) personnel went to Isle Royale to prepare for a potential translocation of wolves from Canada and the 61st annual wolf/ moose population monitoring.
The extreme cold and weather conditions prevented any successful transfer of wolves from Ontario last week.
Mark Romanski, Isle Royale National Park’s division chief for Natural Resources and project lead for the wolf reintroduction efforts, had been monitoring GPS data from each of the translocated wolves in preparation for the Canadian wolves.
He noted the wolves had been moving about the southwestern end of the park. However, no locations were reported for nearly five days, between Jan 27 and Feb 2.
Blinded by the poor satellite transmissions, the park needed aerial observations to help locate the translocated wolves.
Michigan Technological University (MTU) researchers arrived on Saturday, Feb. 2 and within hours of landing, Rolf Peterson, principal investigator for MTU, and his contracted pilot, Don Murray of UpNorth Aerials, were in the air radio-tracking the translocated wolves.
After confirming the presence of two of the three collared wolves, the team directed their attention to a very static-filled signal radiating from off Isle Royale’s north shore towards Canada. “We followed the signal toward the north shore of the island and finally out over the open water of Lake Superior,” stated Rolf Peterson. “A lead a half mile wide had opened a few hours before, as the ice bridge was dislodged by a strong northeast wind. We flew out across the open lead and out over the ice pack then determined that the wolf ’s signal was still to the north, straight to the mainland.
“We gave up further search because the weather was deteriorating and evening was approaching.” Immediately prior to twilight, the plane returned to Windigo with Peterson suspecting a wolf had departed the island.
The wolf departed the island on January 31, 2019, headed north and then west to a location just north of the Pigeon River, on the border between Canada and northeastern Minnesota.
“I was excited to see locations after not seeing anything for five days, but that excitement quickly gave way to disappointment as my eyes followed the track that led away from Isle Royale. I knew this could happen but of course you always hope for the best,” said Romanski.
Dave Mech, USGS wolf biologist and former member of the Isle Royale research team, has documented such movements in the past. Mech commented, “The early research on wolf translocation indicated that if you moved a wolf less than 80 miles it typically would try to return home, especially if it was a breeding animal.
“So a Minnesota wolf trying to return is not surprising. However, we also found that if they were held in the release area for three to four weeks they generally stayed in the area.
“Since all of the new wolves were moved in the fall it will take time to tease out the behaviors related to translocation. The Isle Royale wolf translocation is new territory in understanding wolf behaviors and will be ground-breaking with new information as it unfolds.”
Isle Royale park superintendent Phyllis Green noted, “Nature and the instincts of wildlife will always prevail in the wilderness of Isle Royale. When we made the decision to restore the predator-prey relationship, we knew we would have to respectfully work with whatever curves nature threw at us, whether it’s adverse weather or wolves working out where they choose to fit on the landscape. We’re going to continue the project for the next three years, a window we feel affords us the opportunity for successful restoration.”
Three years ago a pair of wolves from Grand Portage walked across an ice bridge and spent five days there before returning to the mainland. The year before an Isle Royale wolf named Isabella walked across an ice bridge only to meet her demise on the mainland.
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