Wolf update presented
By RALPH ANSAMI
Globe News Editor
WAKEFIELD — A huge budget deficit in Minnesota means state residents will no longer be compensated for losses to wolves, a gathering of wolf experts learned here Wednesday.
John Erb, of the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, explained how the state handles its 2,450-wolf population on the opening day of the Midwest Wolf Stewards Conference at Indianhead Mountain.
Erb said while a state statute will remain in place concerning losses to wolves, there will be no funding for the program for the next two years because Minnesota, like Wisconsin and Michigan, faces a severe budget deficit.
Wisconsin has about 335 wolves and Michigan’s population is around 321.
Jim Hammill, recently retired Upper Peninsula DNR wildlife biologist who tracked wolves for years, asked Erb if Minnesota’s wolf population has expanded in range recently.
“Things seem to have stabilized somewhat,” Erb said, referring to wolf range.
Wolves often prey on livestock and also kill dogs, mostly bear hunting hounds.
Adrian Wydeven, a WDNR wolf tracker who closely follows packs throughout the state, noted in 2001 17 dogs were killed in Wisconsin by wolves. That’s been the high for one year.
Most dogs lost are in the July-September bear-dog training period and in December, during bobcat season, he said.
“In most cases, dogs get too close to the wolf pups,” he said.
Wisconsin reimburses dog owners for their losses.
Wisconsin trapped and relocated 18 wolves last year, Wydeven said. Michigan relocated about 25 in the same period. Outside of two northern Wisconsin farms, there is not a great deal of livestock loss because of depredation, however, he said.
DNR biologists often tag and radio-collar wolves to follow their movements. Wydeven said the DNR has found in most cases wolves, which can range more than 100 miles, don’t stay where they’re translocated. He mentioned one collared wolf that appears to be headed back to Burnett County, where it has killed farm animals in the past.
Radio-collaring also allows researchers to determine how wolves die. About one-fourth of the wolf deaths tracked by the WDNR in the past year were due to gunshots. Many wolves are killed in vehicle collisions. Also, “There’s a fair amount of mange” in the state’s 81 wolf packs, Wydeven said.
Wydeven showed slides of two unusual wolves found dead. One appeared to be a mix with a German shepherd and the other had long, floppy ears not typical of a wolf. He said he didn’t know how many animals in the 335-wolf estimate are wolf-dog crosses,.
Wydeven praised volunteers who assisted in monitoring wolves. “It doubles our survey effort,” he said.
Dean Beyer, of the Michigan DNR, acknowledged not every wolf in his state is accounted for. “We realize we’re not counting every wolf out there,” he said. “It’s especially tough to count the loners,” he said.
Beyer said it’s important in aerial and tracking surveys to make sure the same animal is not counted twice. The MIchigan DNR vaccinates and radio-collars wolves that are captured, he said.
There are wolves in every county in the U.P., Beyer said. Beyer noted Don Lonsway, of Ironwood, who tracks wolves for the DNR, has documented a 14-wolf pack.
A presentation from Bret Huntzinger, of Michigan Tech University, on wolf predation on deer in the western U.P. was canceled because his wife just had a baby.
The role of universities and the federal government in monitoring and studying wolves will also be addressed at the conference, which concludes today.
Midwest Wolf Stewards is a diverse organization of people from state and federal agencies, tribes, universities and others interested in the recovery or wolves in the Great Lakes area.
The growing gray wolf population in the western Great Lakes states and a successful reintroduction program in the northern Rocky Mountains has prompted the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to change the status of gray wolves in those areas from “endangered” to a less serious “threatened” designation.
Many of the speakers at the conference are addressing the change in status.
Under federal law, endangered species are those in danger of extinction. Threatened species are considered likely to become endangered in the foreseeable future.
“Threatened is a more appropriate classification than endangered for wolves outside the Southwest because recovery programs have succeeded in reducing threats to gray wolves and vastly increasing their numbers and range,” U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Director Steve Williams said recently.
Under the Endangered Species Act, rules provide options for removing wolves that cause problems for livestock owners and others. Such rules are possible for threatened species, but not for those designated as endangered.
“The USFWS will now begin the process of proposing to remove gray wolves in the western and eastern U.S. from the endangered and threatened species list, once the agency has determined all recovery criteria for wolf populations in those areas have been met and sufficient protections remain in place to ensure sustainable populations,” Williams added.
Minnesota and Wisconsin wolf numbers have climbed beyond recovery goals, he noted.
In the Rocky Mountains, there are an estimated 664 wolves in 44 packs in northwestern Montana, Idaho, and in and around Yellowstone National Park.
In the 1920s, wolves were virtually gone from the lower 48 states, except for a small population in Minnesota.
Intensive efforts to recover wolf populations began once wolves received protection under the Endangered Species Act of 1973. Once they were protected from killing, wolf populations in the western Great Lakes states began to rebound by the mid-1980s.
Once de-listed, wolves will no longer be protected by the Endangered Species Act and individual states and tribes will resume management.
Wolves are numerous in Alaska, where they have never been listed as endangered or threatened.