An Experimental Translocation of the Eastern Timber WolfWeise, Thomas F.
Science
An Experimental Translocation of the Eastern Timber Wolf
Weise, Thomas F.
Gray wolf -- Reintroduction -- Michigan
Because results of the earlier attempts at translocating wolves
suggested that pen-reared wolves did not fare well in the wild, we
decided to use wild wolves that were accustomed to fending for
themselves and avoiding people. They would have to be released in the
most inaccessible area we could find and encouraged to stay there. To
maximize their chances of breeding, we would have to try to obtain
animals with already established social ties, that is, members of the
same pack. Approval was obtained from the Minnesota Department of
Natural Resources to live-trap up to five wolves in Minnesota, and a
permit was granted by the Michigan Department of Natural Resources to
release up to five in Upper Michigan.
This bulletin describes the results of the experimental translocation.
THE STUDY AREA
The area selected for the release of the translocated wolves was the
Huron Mountain area (Fig. 2) in northern Marquette County in the Upper
Peninsula of Michigan (47° N Latitude; 88° W Longitude). This is one of
the largest roadless tracts in Michigan, and has one of the lowest
year-around densities of resident humans. Much of the area is owned by
the Huron Mountain Club, on which accessibility is restricted.
The Upper Peninsula is 16,491 square miles (42,693 km²) in area,
bounded by Lake Superior to the north, and by Lakes Huron and Michigan
to the east and south. The Wisconsin border along the western portion of
the Upper Peninsula forms no distinctive ecological boundary. The Upper
Peninsula is in the Canadian biotic province (Dice 1952), characterized
by a northern hardwoods climax, interspersed with spruce-fir and pine
subclimaxes. The northwestern portion of the Upper Peninsula, including
Marquette, Baraga, Houghton, Ontonagon, and Iron Counties, contains
rugged highlands and rock outcroppings which rise to elevations
approaching 2,000 feet (610 m) in several locations.
The human population of the Upper Peninsula is 303,342, with a rural
density of about 9.0 persons per square mile or 3.5 persons per square
kilometer (Table 1). The population of the Upper Peninsula has remained
at about 300,000 for the past 50 years, and the rural human populations
of local areas have generally declined or remained stable. During those
50 years, the wolf population has declined from several hundred animals
to near extinction, with the population estimated by Hendrickson et al.
(1975) at 6 to 10 remaining wolves. These authors concluded that the
bounty on wolves between 1935 and 1960 was largely responsible for the
demise of the species in the Upper Peninsula. The bounty was removed
in 1960, after only one wolf was taken in 1959. Legal protection was
granted by Michigan in 1965. The Endangered Species Act of 1973 added
federal protection in 1974.
[Illustration: _Fig. 2.--Range of the wolf in Upper Michigan in 1973,
and the release point (from Hendrickson et al. 1975)_]
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