Michigan Tech
Isle Royale Wolves
Just two wolves remain on Isle Royale, according to the 2016-17 Winter Study by Michigan Tech researchers. The moose population, meanwhile, has boomed.
With only two island wolves remaining, Isle Royale moose population spikes
This week Michigan Tech researchers published their annual Winter Study of wolves and moose on Isle Royale. The last two wolves noted last year are hanging on, but with the predators on the brink of extirpation, the largely unchecked moose population has grown to more than 1,600 animals:
Without wolf predation, says John Vucetich, a professor of ecology at Michigan Tech and report co-author, the moose population could double over the next three to four years. And more moose means more vegetation is eaten. The observations were reported in this year's Winter Study, which marks the 59th year of monitoring wolves and moose on Isle Royale, the longest running predator-prey study in the world.
The remaining wolves are an inbred pair. They’re father and daughter as well as half siblings who had the same mother. A few years ago they produced a pup with visible deformities; it does not appear to have survived. And this winter, “the female wolf has been observed aggressively rejecting the male as a mate,” the researchers say.
With the wolf population unlikely to recover, the National Park Service is weighing a number of options for managing the growing moose herd, from a hands-off approach to introducing as many as 30 wolves.
You can read the full Winter Study here.
Spring slowly arrives
Many roadside parks in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula will open for the season on Monday, though water won’t be turned on until early May. The Michigan Department of Transportation operates 32 of these parks in the U.P. A few of them will remain closed for a little while longer due to maintenance and weather conditions – including, unsurprisingly, the Snow Gauge Roadside Park in the Keweenaw. There’s still a little snow on the Keweenaw shore!
Travel Wisconsin featured Bayfield’s Old Rittenhouse Inn in a post about lovely B&B gardens. To see more Bayfield Peninsula spots in bloom, check out this slideshow by our own Paul Hayden.
Emily Stone, the naturalist and education director at the Cable Natural History Museum in Wisconsin’s north woods, wrote about a perfect spring evening by a lake – 50 degrees, no mosquitoes, twinkling stars – and the wiggling, swimming critters that caught her eye. (Emily has also written for Lake Superior Magazine. Read her naturalist’s view of Isle Royale in the April/May issue, out now.)
Sunken fishing boat raised from Keweenaw Waterway
Graham Jaehnig writes for the Mining Gazette:
The U.S. Coast Guard and Marine Tech of Duluth were in the South Entry of the Keweenaw Waterway Tuesday to raise the fishing vessel “Dawn,” which had sunk beside the pier on April 1.
Divers secured slings to the 40-foot boat, and a crane lifted it from the water. The linked story has a nice photo of the operation in progress.
Adopt-a-Beach: Earth Day is Saturday, April 22. Here’s a link to beach cleanups around the Great Lakes, if you’d like to join up.
Water walkers, with message of environmental responsibility, start journey in Duluth: “Anishinaabe walkers will begin a 1,420-mile journey Thursday carrying a pail of Lake Superior water from Duluth to Matane, Quebec, where they'll join the water with the St. Lawrence River,” writes Lisa Kaczke in the Duluth News Tribune. The walk is led once again by Thunder Bay elder Josephine Mandamin, who won Lake Superior Magazine’s Achievement Award in 2011.
Cruising to the Soo: Sault Ste. Marie expects a record 26 cruise ship visits this year, reports SooToday. Two vessels will account for all of the scheduled visits, with regular stops in town from June to October. Each can carry more than 200 passengers.
Smelt fishing, a generations-old tradition: The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel came north to Superior for this video about smelt fishing on Wisconsin Point. (Don’t miss the youngster’s culinary review at the end.)
Arts, crafts and beer revive Duluth neighborhood: Minnesota Public Radio’s Dan Kraker featured the up-and-coming Lincoln Park neighborhood west of downtown, which entrepreneurs and makers have turned into a crafts district.
Got a Sasquatch story to share? A filmmaker based in Red Rock, Ontario, is working on “Sasquatch on Lake Superior” and wants to hear from you. Kris Ketonen from CBC News had the details.
Video: Fog rolls in on Madeline Island.