Paul W. Keenlance, Kelly Millenbah, Fisheries and Wildlife Department, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48823, USA; Bruce E. Kohn, Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, PO Box 576, Rhinelander, WI 54501, USA

In North America, gray wolves have traditionally been regarded as a wilderness species, closely associated with large areas of unbroken habitat. Along with this perception, has come the use of road density as the most often cited measure of habitat suitability. Though this paradigm has proven useful, the continuing expansion of the northwestern Wisconsin wolf population into much more human-dominated and disturbed areas may necessitate a revision in our perceptions of suitable wolf habitat.

This study was initiated to examine changes in gray wolf pack territory characteristics as population density increased. Fifty nine wolves were radio-collared and monitored from 1992-1998. Pack territories were estimated each year and overlaid with GIS coverages delineating road density, land ownership category, cover type, and white-tailed deer density. Values for each of these territory characteristics were then calculated for each pack in each year of the study. These same characteristics will be calculated in randomly selected unused sites corresponding to each territory. Values of pack territory characteristics will be compared both between packs year-to-year and between packs and unused areas. The results of these analyses will provide insight into whether current theories delineating suitable wolf habitat continue to prove valid as recolonizing populations continue to expand. Results may also prove useful in predicting biological carrying capacities and areas of potential human/wolf conflicts in the upper Great Lakes Region. The results of this study may prove especially useful as management agencies in the region set wolf population goals and management plans for the period after removal from the Endangered Species List.