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Rolf Peterson Gives Free Update on Isle Royale Wolves and Moose

February 15, 2003   hi-res photos to accompany this story available below

Fresh from two months of wolf-moose research on Isle Royale, wildlife biologist Rolf Peterson will speak on the project's latest findings at 7 p.m. on Saturday, March 8, at the Minnesota Valley National Wildlife Refuge in Bloomington.

Program participants will hear the latest about pups born, pack survival, and trends for moose and vegetation on the island. The free program is sponsored by the International Wolf Center, the Isle Royale Institute and the Isle Royale National History Association.

This longest running predator-prey research project is 43 years old, and Peterson has conducted the study for the past 32 years. He is a professor of wildlife ecology at Michigan Technological University in Houghton, Michigan and the author of The Wolves of Isle Royale: A Broken Balance, published in 1995.

Over the years wolf groups on the island -- including the current Chippewa Harbor Pack, East Pack and Middle Pack - and lone wolves have fluctuated in numbers during a catastrophic moose dieoff, inter-pack killings, parvovirus, drought and severe winter cold and snows.

The 2002 survey counted 17 wolves, two fewer than the year before, while the moose population increased by 200 to about 1,100. Snow depth was the lowest recorded in 44 years of monitoring and weather was extremely mild, but nearly 50 percent of the island's wolves died during 2001-2002, perhaps because of a shortage of old moose for easily accessible food.

The presentation will be followed by a book signing, and participants who purchase an International Wolf Center membership will receive a free copy of Peterson's book, "The Wolves of Isle Royale: A Broken Balance." The Minnesota Valley National Wildlife Refuge is located at 3815 East 80th Street in Bloomington. For more information please call the Center at (763)560-7374 Ext. 224.

Contact:
Anne Koenke
outreach@wolf.org
763-560-7374

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