30 Wolves May Be Moved to Royale Isle to Stop Pack’s Extinction

Between 20 and 30 gray wolves may be introduced at the Isle Royale National Park to stop the predator species’ steady march toward extinction on the Lake Superior island chain, the federal government said Friday

There are only two wolves left in the rugged wilderness island park, believed to be a male wolf and his daughter, and scientists believe their recovery is unlikely without assistance. Wolves aren’t indigenous to the park, but arrived there in the 1940s after traveling over ice from Ontario, Canada, according to the National Park Service, which said they play an important role in the park’s ecosystem.

Moose populations on Isle Royale are soaring, with the latest count indicating 1,300 in the herd, and more increases are likely if wolf populations aren’t increased. Doing nothing would come with environmental consequences, such as the devastation of native vegetation and the elimination of wolves’ food sources, as well as those of other island species, experts say.

Other options outlined by the National Park Service in a draft plan include temporarily locating 15 wolves to the wilderness for breeding purpose, adding about 20 over time, or doing nothing, which would likely result in their extinction at Isle Royale,The Detroit News reported.

The debate stirs up concerns among environmentalists, who say interference by the Park Service violates the federal Wilderness Act, which holds that lands should remain “untrammeled” by human intervention. All but about 1 percent of the 55-mile-long park is a federally designated wilderness area that is largely free of human activity.

The issue is made more complex by the uncertainties of climate change and how it will affect island species, Nancy Finley, natural resources director for the Park Service’s Central Region, said, according to a report in the Detroit Free Press.

“If it was the last wolf on Earth, it might be a different situation,” Finley said. “But in this case, it’s about managing a unique island ecosystem and determining the role the wolf has in that ecosystem, and how it plays out over time.”

Phyllis Green, superintendent of Isle Royale National Park, said the issue is “about more than wolves.”

“It’s about the entire park ecosystem and where it is heading in the future with changing conditions,” she said, calling wolf management “a complex issue to address.”

U.S. Sen. Gary Peters, D-Bloomfield Township, hailed the draft plan after previously having urged the Park Service to move quickly to re-establish the gray wolf population.

“The wolves are a part of Isle Royale’s heritage, but I commend the Park Service for also recognizing the critical role of an apex predator to the entire Isle Royale ecosystem,” he told the Free Press.

Researchers at the Michigan Technological University in Houghton, who have tracked wolves and moose on Isle Royale for nearly 60 years, have warned that the wolf population on the rugged island was close to collapsing for nearly six years and have called for a reintroduction of the predator species. In 2010, there were 19 wolves at the park.

Rolf Peterson, a research professor at MTU who has been part of the annual wolf survey for almost five decades, said he wants to read the 183-page study before saying whether a one-time reintroduction of the species would help bolster populations.

“Why do it once and then wash your hands of it? I want to read about that — I want to get into the weeds and see what they're really saying,” he told the Free Press.

Though the Park Service is leaning toward adding wolves to Isle Royale, the management plan may change after the public comment period has passed.

“We have to go beyond loving wolves to understand their complexities ... how they function in the wild and their relationship with the ecosystem around them,” Green said.

The National Park Service is seeking comment through March 15, 2017, on an analysis of four management alternatives.

Photo: Gray wolves at Yellowstone National Park by Zechariah Judy via Flickr Commons