National Park Service
341wolf
The resurgent gray wolf is now under state management in the Great Lakes region.Management of gray wolves has shifted to the Great Lakes states now that federal protection of the iconic predator has been lifted.
Officials in Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin are looking at allowing hunting and trapping of wolves, but so far details have not been announced. In December, the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service declared that the gray wolf population in the Great Lakes region had recovered and wolves were thriving, after about four decades on the endangered species list.
Each state has a management plan, and the federal government will continue to monitor wolf numbers for five years. There are more than 4,000 wolves in the Upper Midwest. Here’s how the estimates shake out: 2,900 to 3,000 in Minnesota, where the state’s minimum goal is 1,600; in Wisconsin, 782, or far more than the goal of 350; and in Michigan, 687, compared with its management plan minimum of 200 for the Upper Peninsula.
Isle Royale on Lake Superior was reported to have 16 wolves in 2010; due to their isolation, the wolves not seen as contributing to federal recovery goals.
Information about the gray wolf is available at fws.gov/midwest/wolf.