Warm temperatures force Isle Royale researchers to pause wolf study

Matt Jaworowski
·2 min read

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — For the first time in its 65-year run, the researchers behind the Isle Royale Winter Study have been forced to suspend their work because of warm conditions.

According to the National Weather Service, temperatures have consistently hovered in the 30s for the last several days, with nearby Copper Harbor hitting 46 degrees on Wednesday night. The warmer-than-normal conditions are expected to continue through the next week.

“On Tuesday afternoon, the National Park Service made the decision to suspend all winter fieldwork activities on Isle Royale out of safety concerns that the ongoing warm weather would prevent any ski-planes from being able to move personnel off the island,” the research team stated on Facebook. “On Wednesday afternoon, our research team departed the island via a helicopter because the helicopter doesn’t need to land on ice.”

This photo taken Jan. 24, 2023, shows a pack of wolves after they killed a moose at Michigan’s Isle Royale National Park. Gray wolves are thriving at Isle Royale National Park five years after authorities began a last-ditch attempt to prevent the species from dying out on the Lake Superior island chain, scientists said Wednesday, June 14, 2023. (AP Photo/Rolf Peterson, Michigan Technological University)

The Isle Royale Winter Study is the longest-running predator-prey study in the world, focused on how moose and wolves interact on the island. It is led by researchers from Michigan Technological University, working alongside the National Park Service and the U.S. National Science Foundation.

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The team says they may be able to resume their fieldwork if cold conditions return in February.

Researchers were able to complete their moose census, although they have not released an exact figure for the number of moose they counted on the island. The moose population has been trending down, while the wolf population has been trending up.

In January of 2023, researchers counted 31 active wolves on the island — up from 28 the previous winter and up from 15 in 2011. Park authorities intervened and brought trapped wolves from the Upper Peninsula to help the packs rebuild.

The estimated moose population in January 2023 was 967 — a 28% drop from the 2022 count of 1,346.

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