Isle Royale National Park
Wolf and Moose Predator Prey Relationship in Isle Royale National Park: 1949-2014
The guardian water of the great lakes make Isle Royale what it is, providing almost unique isolation, subjecting its bays and inlets to endless change in beauty, charm and challenge.
The idea for Isle Royale as a national park began in the early 1920s. At that time the Island Copper Company and Minnesota Forest Production Company owned 70% of the land, 7% was public land and the rest was divided among small landowners and the state of Michigan. During the summer of 1924, a party led by National Parks Service director Stephen Mather inspected the island, deeming it fit for a national park. In a report on the field study of the potential for Isle Royale …show more content…
Isle Royale National Park would become a natural laboratory to study the predator prey relationship between wolves and moose. The park is free of roads, development and hunting. These conditions created a rare opportunity to research the moose and wolves inhabiting the island, in a nearly untouched environment. Wolves not originally native to Isle Royale, migrated on an ice bridge between Thunder Bay, Ontario and the island in 1949. Moose had come to the island some 50 years before by swimming through the icy Lake Superior. There was concern among the National Park Service that the wild wolf population would get out of hand. Robert Linn, for the National Park Service, became the first naturalist for Isle Royale and began a study on wolves in 1956. Linn’s study focused on how many wolves inhabited Isle Royale and how their activities might affect the moose population. Linn’s letter and reports based on his study revealed that wolves were indeed not a threat to people and subsequently helped establish a policy through the National Park Service that would support the existence of an unmanaged wolf …show more content…
Halvorson, 92. Nelson, 37. Halvorson, 88.
Works Cited
Allen, Durward L. Wolves of Minong. (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1979).
Allen, Durward L. Our Wildlife Legacy. (New York: Funk and Wagnalls Co., 1954)
Dell’Amore, Christine. “Should We Save the Wolves of Isle Royale? As the Predators Dwindle, Experts Debate Whether to Intervene.” National Geographic. Last modified 27 April 2014. http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2014/04/140427-wolves-isle-royale-animals-science-nation/?rptregcta=reg_free_np&rptregcampaign=20131016_rw_membership_r1p_us_se_w# Halvorson, William L. and Gary E. Davis eds., Science and Ecosystem Management in the National Parks. (Tucson: The University of Arizona Press, 1996).
Link, Mike and Kate Crowley. Following the Pack: The World of Wolf Research. (Stillwater: Voyager Press, 1994).
Nelson, Micheal P. et. al. “The Isle Royale Wolf-Moose Project (1958-Present) and the Wonder of Long-Term Ecological Research”, Science Diet 35, no. 1 p33.
Scott, Doug. The Enduring Wilderness: Protecting Our Natural Heritage Through the Wilderness Act. (Golden: Fulcrum Publishing,
The guardian water of the great lakes make Isle Royale what it is, providing almost unique isolation, subjecting its bays and inlets to endless change in beauty, charm and challenge.
The idea for Isle Royale as a national park began in the early 1920s. At that time the Island Copper Company and Minnesota Forest Production Company owned 70% of the land, 7% was public land and the rest was divided among small landowners and the state of Michigan. During the summer of 1924, a party led by National Parks Service director Stephen Mather inspected the island, deeming it fit for a national park. In a report on the field study of the potential for Isle Royale …show more content…
Isle Royale National Park would become a natural laboratory to study the predator prey relationship between wolves and moose. The park is free of roads, development and hunting. These conditions created a rare opportunity to research the moose and wolves inhabiting the island, in a nearly untouched environment. Wolves not originally native to Isle Royale, migrated on an ice bridge between Thunder Bay, Ontario and the island in 1949. Moose had come to the island some 50 years before by swimming through the icy Lake Superior. There was concern among the National Park Service that the wild wolf population would get out of hand. Robert Linn, for the National Park Service, became the first naturalist for Isle Royale and began a study on wolves in 1956. Linn’s study focused on how many wolves inhabited Isle Royale and how their activities might affect the moose population. Linn’s letter and reports based on his study revealed that wolves were indeed not a threat to people and subsequently helped establish a policy through the National Park Service that would support the existence of an unmanaged wolf …show more content…
Halvorson, 92. Nelson, 37. Halvorson, 88.
Works Cited
Allen, Durward L. Wolves of Minong. (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1979).
Allen, Durward L. Our Wildlife Legacy. (New York: Funk and Wagnalls Co., 1954)
Dell’Amore, Christine. “Should We Save the Wolves of Isle Royale? As the Predators Dwindle, Experts Debate Whether to Intervene.” National Geographic. Last modified 27 April 2014. http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2014/04/140427-wolves-isle-royale-animals-science-nation/?rptregcta=reg_free_np&rptregcampaign=20131016_rw_membership_r1p_us_se_w# Halvorson, William L. and Gary E. Davis eds., Science and Ecosystem Management in the National Parks. (Tucson: The University of Arizona Press, 1996).
Link, Mike and Kate Crowley. Following the Pack: The World of Wolf Research. (Stillwater: Voyager Press, 1994).
Nelson, Micheal P. et. al. “The Isle Royale Wolf-Moose Project (1958-Present) and the Wonder of Long-Term Ecological Research”, Science Diet 35, no. 1 p33.
Scott, Doug. The Enduring Wilderness: Protecting Our Natural Heritage Through the Wilderness Act. (Golden: Fulcrum Publishing,