TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. —
Federal officials said Wednesday they will take a closer look at whether
to bring more gray wolves to Isle Royale National Park, where the
iconic predator is on the verge of dying out after suffering a
population free-fall in recent years.
The National Park Service
began a wide-ranging study in 2015 of strategies for managing the Lake
Superior island chain's wolves, moose and vegetation for at least the
next two decades. But with only two wolves believed to remain as of
February, the agency said it would narrow its focus to whether to
bolster their numbers — and if so, how.
"At this time, natural
recovery of the population is unlikely," the park service said in a
statement. "The potential absence of wolves raises concerns about
possible effects to Isle Royale's current ecosystem, including effects
to both the moose population and Isle Royale's forest/vegetation
communities."
Taking the closer look does
not necessarily mean the park service is leaning toward moving more
wolves to the island, Superintendent Phyllis Green said. But internal
discussions and public comments have led staffers to drop consideration
of alternatives for keeping moose numbers in check through methods such
as hunting, as opposed to maintaining the reliance on wolves as
predators.
"The central question is in
the next 20 years, while things are changing on the island, will wolves
play a role in managing moose or not," Green said.
Wolves have been a beloved
feature of Isle Royale, a rugged, isolated wilderness roughly 15 miles
from the Canadian shoreline. Sightings are unusual, but visitors thrill
to the occasional nighttime howls that announce the wolves' presence.
Scientists believe they
first migrated to the island park across winter ice bridges in the late
1940s. Their numbers grew as they feasted on moose, which themselves had
arrived around the turn of the 20th century. Since then, the two
species have benefited each other, as moose provided the wolves an ample
food supply, while wolves kept moose numbers from rising so high that
they would gobble up too much of the island's trees and bushes.
Biologists with Michigan
Technological University have studied their relationship since the 1950s
in what is described as the world's longest continuous study of a
predator-prey relationship in a closed ecosystem.
Wolf numbers have averaged
in the low 20s, divided into several packs, but have declined steeply in
recent years — probably because of inbreeding and disease, scientists
say.
The park service hosted
public meetings last summer and received thousands of comments, with
some favoring bringing more wolves to the island and others opposing it.
Because the study is being revised, the agency said an additional
30-day public comment period will be granted.
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