Michigan’sgray wolf population stable for last decade, state says

michigan’s Upper Peninsula is home to more than 600 gray wolves spread across 136 organized packs, numbers which experts say show the species’ population remained stable there for more than the last decade.

Researchers with the Michigan Department of Natural Resources said the estimated minimum number of gray wolves in the U.P. is 631, give or take 49 wolves. The average number of wolves per pack is between four and five.

State wildlife officials recently released this data from the 2022 Michigan gray wolf population, a scientific wintertime analysis done every two years across the U.P., including Drummond, Neebish, and Sugar islands. Wolves on Isle Royale are not included in the count and are managed by the National Park Service.

Cody Norton, DNR wildlife biologist and wolf specialist, said the state’s gray wolf population has not statistically varied since 2011, which indicates the species may have reached its biological carrying capacity. That means an equilibrium exists between available habitat and the number of animals of a particular species that can be supported there over time.

State scientists said the numbers may have remained the same, but the density of gray wolves across the U.P. shifted through the years, decreasing in western areas, and increasing in the eastern region. They suggested that could be linked to major winter weather events between 2013 and 2015, which greatly reduced deer densities in deeper snowfall zones.

Both wolf protection advocates and hunting proponents said there were no surprises in the wolf numbers released this week by the DNR. In fact, both camps pointed to the data as proof Michigan either should or should not make plans to hunt wolves.

The gray wolf has steadily recovered over the last three decades across the U.P. following statewide extirpation because of a state bounty only repealed in 1960. The species has repeatedly been protected – and not protected – by the federal endangered species law either because of policy changes or court orders.

Currently, the gray wolf remains federally protected across most of the United States and cannot be killed unless in defense of human life. That doesn’t mean there hasn’t been plenty of talk about hunting wolves in Michigan, though.

Wolf numbers hovering within the 618-695 range for years on end shows the species has now fully recovered from its eradication in Michigan, said Amy Trotter, executive director at Michigan United Conservation Clubs.

That’s why the hunting advocacy group supports state wildlife authorities putting together plans for a wolf hunt, should the federal protective status for the species change again. They want some rules on the books now.

“I’m not talking about numbers

I’m talking about the framework for a season. So, the timing, the method, how we would report harvest, all those things can be done,” Trotter said.

She also explained why she finds it encouraging state officials are set to broaden how they track wolf populations. Current population counts are done solely in winter but will be expanded to other seasons when numbers are apt to be greater, she contended.

“They can actually start talking about how many wolves on average do we have versus this one snapshot of the lowest possible point in time,” Trotter said.

It’s widely believed across the U.P. hunting community that there is an overabundance of wolves.

Gary Gorniak, president of the Straits Area Sportsmen’s Club, said Yoopers with whom he’s spoken all believe the DNR underestimated wolf numbers. He said the club did a survey last fall asking U.P. residents whether they were seeing more bears or wolves on their trail cameras given the DNR at the time pegged populations at 10,000 bears and 695 wolves.

“Sixty-seven percent said more wolves,” Gorniak said.

However, wolf protection advocates argue the very same data about stabilized populations show no need for absence of trophy hunting,” Fritz said.

A spokesperson for the Native Anishinaabek Caucus of the Michigan Democratic Party said their goal is to reorient conversations about wolves away from the “distraction and controversy” of a hunt.

“Data and science confirm that with pack numbers consistently stabilized, there is no need for generalized lethal intervention, and it is time to focus policies on preserving those numbers so we may better understand and appreciate the ecological benefits wolves provide,” said Nichole Biber, wolf preservation team leader for the caucus.

DNR officials last year updated the state’s wolf management plan and included guidelines for regulators to decide whether hunters in Michigan would ever get a shot to bag North America’s apex canine predator should wolves ever be de-listed again. That only happens with a decision by the Michigan Natural Resources Commission.

In February 2022, a federal judge in California restored federal protections to gray wolves after the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service de-listed the species in the last months of the Trump administration. The Biden administration appealed the decision two months later.

The shifting legal status for wolves has often sparked contentious debate over whether state wildlife regulators should allow wolves to be killed to control livestock predation or for recreational hunting and trapping.