Scientists Forced To Abandon Wolf/Moose Count On Isle Royale - Ice Too Thin To Land Ski Planes

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A stretch of unusually warm weather has forced federal officials to temporarily halt researchers’ annual count of wolves and moose in remote Isle Royale national park for the first time in more than six decades. Isle Royale is a 134,000-acre island situated in far western Lake Superior between Grand Marias, Minnesota, and Thunder Bay, Canada. The Michigan park is a wildlife biologist’s dream – it offers a rare opportunity to observe wolves and moose without human influence.

Researchers have conducted an annual survey of the park’s wolf and moose population since 1958, every year except 2021, when the Covid-19 pandemic forced its cancelation.

Scientists from Michigan Tech University returned to the island on 19 January, planning to survey the wolf and moose populations from the air through March, said Sarah Hoy, a Michigan Tech research assistant professor who leads the project alongside John Vucetich, a Michigan Tech forestry professor, and Rolf Peterson, a retired Michigan Tech ecology professor. Hoy said that the National Park Service suspended the survey on Tuesday and ordered everyone off the island. She said warm temperatures have left the ice around the island unsafe for the scientists’ ski-planes to land.

“The ice on the harbor was starting to deteriorate, I guess,” Hoy said. “We lost some ice depth and a few holes and cracks were starting to appear … Everybody had to leave. So the island’s now only occupied by wolves and moose and a bunch of critters. We’re incredibly disappointed that we’re not able to continue our work.” Temperatures in the region have hovered above freezing since 24 January, about 20 degrees above average, according to the National Weather Service. The mercury hit 47F (8C) in the area on Wednesday.

EDIT

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/feb/02/michigan-moose-wolf-count-halted