Christopher Black, William L. Robinson, Robert S. Regis, Ronald C. Sundell, Departments of Biology and Geography, Northern Michigan University, Marquette, MI 49855, USA

In the past two decades, the gray wolf (Canis lupus), under protection of the Endangered Species Act, has expanded its range in the Great Lakes Region of North America, largely from Minnesota into Wisconsin and the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Understanding habitat needs of these colonizing wolves may assist managers in making decisions to provide conditions necessary for the reestablishment, growth, and maintenance of wolf populations in areas that they had once inhabited. To describe habitat chosen by wolves in the north-central Upper Peninsula, we used Geographic Information Systems imagery and data, identifying 30 recognizable habitat classes. We compared features of habitats occupied by wolves, based upon (1) citizen sightings, and (2) our own ground searches in randomly selected areas. Results indicated that wolves used habitats with no clear preference for particular habitat features or vegetation types. These results contrasted somewhat with those obtained in Wisconsin by Mladinoff et al (1995), in which wolves indicated a preference for forested wetlands and avoidance of agricultural lands. Agricultural lands in our study area comprised < 5% of the total area, and wolves showed neither attraction nor avoidance of them. Densities of white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus), the primary prey of wolves, in our study area averaged about 10 deer/km2, in all seasons except winter, when the deer are concentrated in conifer lowlands. Periodic evaluations of habitat changes brought about by logging practices and increased human encroachment into wolf habitat, which may change the distribution and abundance of prey are recommended.