(WWJ) – Wildlife biologists with the Michigan Department of Natural Resources say Michigan’s wolf population remains stable after the latest survey of gray wolves in the state.
The survey, conducted in early 2022, shows the wolf population in the Upper Peninsula remains stable, as it has for more than a decade, with the minimum wolf population estimate at 631 wolves, plus or minus 49.
A total of 136 packs was estimated with an average number of individuals per pack calculated at 4.5, according to the DNR.
The survey, which is conducted every other winter, covers the U.P., including Drummond, Neebish and Sugar islands, with Isle Royale excluded. The wolves on Isle Royale are managed by the National Park Service.
“These results show a continued trend of statistical stability, indicating that gray wolves may have reached their biological carrying capacity within the Upper Peninsula,” said Cody Norton, the DNR’s wolf specialist. “Wolf presence has only been confirmed twice genetically in the Lower Peninsula in recent times; in 2004 and 2014.”
Norton says the minimum wolf populations have not differed statistically since 2011, but wolf density appears to have shifted over time, possibly due to “significant winter weather events during 2013-2015, which greatly reduced deer densities in mid- and high-snowfall zones of the region.”
The DNR says as the population neared the maximum level the U.P. can sustain, the growth rate was expected to decline. But since 2011, the minimum estimate for the wolf population has remained stable, ranging from 618 to 695.
A bit further south, meanwhile, the DNR says “although it is possible that wolves occur in the Lower Peninsula, as of January 2023, no wolves are known to exist there.”
In October 2004, a wolf that had been captured and radio-collared in the eastern U.P. was captured and killed by a coyote trapper in Presque Isle County of the northern Lower Peninsula. This event represented the first verification of a wild wolf in the L.P. in at least 69 years. However, winter track surveys during 2005-2010 failed to indicate the presence of any wolves in the L.P.
In 2014, biologists from the Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians captured what appeared to be a wolf on a trail camera and were able to collect a scat sample. DNA analysis of the scat confirmed that the animal was a wolf.
The DNR recently launched a new online dashboard, making incidence of wolf-dog conflicts more accessible for viewers. The dashboard includes mapped data points of conflicts and a database of incidents over many years.
Find out more about wolves and the Michigan Wolf Management Plan at Michigan.gov/Wolves.
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