Winter 2024 - Newsletter
Announcements:
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Announces Plans to Develop a Bi-national Gray Wolf Recovery Plan
Fifty years ago, on January 4, 1974 the gray wolf was listed as an endangered species under the Endangered Species Act. A half century later, the gray wolf has yet to be recovered across much of the remaining suitable habitat.
This map indicates the historic range, currently occupied habitat and potential habitat for gray wolves in 2014. Since then, wolves have naturally recolonized parts of Washington, Oregon and California and have begun to recolonize Colorado where additional wolves have been released to augment the tiny wolf population in that state.
Looking at the map, one can see that the northeast U.S. has some of the largest and best potential wolf habitat in the U.S. but the region has been totally ignored by the federal government for wolf recovery. Hopefully, that is about to change.
On February 2, 2024, just two days before a court ordered deadline, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) issued a press release announcing its status review and finding for gray wolves in the western United States and its intent to develop a National Recovery Plan for gray wolves. This mixed bag was bad news for those who want the species relisted in the western U.S. and good news for wolves and wolf advocates in the northeast. https://www.fws.gov/press-release/2024-02/service-announces-gray-wolf-finding-and-national-recovery-plan
Wolves in the states of Montana, Idaho and Wyoming were de-listed several years ago and management jurisdiction was handed over to the states. That these states have overseen a bloodbath is putting it mildly with hundreds of wolves now being senselessly killed for “sport” in each of these three states annually. https://biologicaldiversity.org/w/news/press-releases/northern-rockies-gray-wolves-denied-endangered-species-act-protection-2024-02-02/ Western wolf advocates had sought a re-listing of wolves in these states, but the federal government determined that re-listing was not warranted and that the wolves in these states are no longer endangered.
The situation here in the northeast is far more complex than simply managing a gray wolf population. Here we potentially have at least three wolf types-the Great Lakes gray wolf that lives around the Great Lakes, the boreal gray wolf that lives in central and northern Ontario and Quebec, and the Eastern aka Algonquin wolf that lives in a narrow band across southern Ontario and Quebec.
There are believed to be less than 1,000 Eastern wolves remaining on the planet. Both gray wolves and Eastern/gray wolf hybrids have been killed in the U.S. and Canada south of the St. Lawrence River. The eastern coyote/coywolf greatly complicates matters as it readily interbreeds with Eastern wolves and can interbreed with gray/Eastern wolf hybrids. It is abundant throughout the northeast, the Canadian maritimes, and southern Quebec and Ontario.
For the time being at least, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service considers the Eastern wolf to be a gray wolf and considers it still endangered and protected under the Endangered Species Act. There is not unanimity among scientists regarding the origin and identity of this wolf, with some saying that it is a species or sub-species of the gray wolf and others saying that it is a wolf/coyote hybrid.
Our response to the news of a National Gray Wolf Recovery Plan is to immediately contact the USFWS to ask to participate in development of the Recovery Plan and to urge the U.S. government to communicate with Canadian governments since northeast wolf recolonization depends entirely on wolves dispersing from Canada.
We are not holding our breath, waiting for issuance of the Recovery Plan in 2025. For more than twenty years the USFWS has fought to de-list wolves. Only because of lawsuits filed and won by wildlife advocates are we in this position today. Not only does the USFWS not want wolves in the northeast but the state governments don’t either. This is largely because of the political influence held by extremist “sportsman’s” organizations and the proclivity of state fish and wildlife agencies to pander to these organizations.
We are doing and will continue to do our best to advocate for wolf recovery in Maine. This is something we have waited and worked for, for thirty years. We need your help both financially and politically to support the return of wolves to Maine. We thank you for your continuing support!
New Canadian Study Gives Insight Into Eastern Wolf Mortality in Ontario
By John Glowa
A nearly twenty yearlong study recently published in the Journal of Applied Ecology, which ran from 2002-2020 and which involved 438 canids has shown that humans are the single greatest cause of mortality among Ontario’s dispersing Eastern wolves.
https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/1365-2664.14589
Among non-resident (dispersing) wolves outside Algonquin Provincial Park (APP), annual human-caused mortality (guns, traps, motor vehicles) was 31% with a total annual mortality of these canids of 56%. In other words, less than one-half of dispersing Eastern wolves outside APP are surviving each year. This does not count annual pup mortality, only animals that survive to reach dispersal age. Annual mortality of pre-dispersal age pups was not a part of this study, but it would be significant.
The Eastern wolf is considered by the Canadian and Ontario governments to be a threatened subspecies of the gray wolf.
The U.S. federal government considers the Eastern wolf to be a gray wolf and is thus protected under the Endangered Species Act-at least for now. It is believed that less than 1,000 Eastern wolves remain in a narrow band of habitat across southern Ontario and Quebec. The Maine Wolf Coalition (MWC) documented a living Eastern wolf in Maine in 2019.
Aside from human-caused and natural mortality, the greatest threat to the Eastern wolf is the coyote/wolf hybrid aka Eastern coyote or coywolf. The Eastern coyote is not a species but a hybrid of western coyote, gray wolf, Eastern wolf, and dog. These animals readily breed with Eastern wolves, especially where wolf numbers are small in relation to Eastern coyotes. The only known relatively secure population of Eastern wolves is in APP, where the wolves are sufficient in number to find and breed with other wolves and where Eastern coyote numbers are small.
Aside from the Eastern wolf we documented through its scat, photographic evidence and the laws of probability indicate that there are more. Although the identity of these canids cannot be certain without a DNA test, animals we have photographed are more wolflike than coyotelike and are commonly within the size range of Eastern wolves.
This study provides extremely important scientific data to help in saving the Eastern wolf from extinction in the wild. It serves to indicate the threats that this extremely rare canid faces and most importantly the human threats. Recent expansions of the protected areas in Ontario have helped to expand the range of the Eastern wolf southward and in doing so, may have allowed some individual dispersing wolves to survive to travel south into the northeast U.S. Much more protection must be given to these wolves in Canada and the U.S. to maximize their survival and their chances of successfully recolonizing the northeast U.S. and maritime Canada.
Update from the President’s Desk
At no time in MWC’s thirty year history has the northeast wolf issue been more active and hopeful than right now. The big news, of course, is that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has stated that they intend to issue a National Gray Wolf Recovery Plan by the end of 2025. This is apparently a stunning reversal of fortunes for wolves and wolf advocates in the northeast who have been patiently and tirelessly advocating on behalf of wolves. I use the word “apparently” because we all can agree that the government does not have a good track record of honoring its promises. We will see how this unfolds and whether or not the anti-wolf special interests are able to de-rail the recovery plan.
We continue to collect canid scats and great photos and videos of wolflike canids. Frankly, the more evidence we collect, the more optimistic we are that Maine has a breeding wolf population. Many of the animals we have photographed are virtually indistinguishable from Ontario’s Eastern wolves. There is a definite difference in physical appearance between our canids and gray wolves found in Minnesota, despite that fact that Minnesota’s wolves are about the same size as Eastern wolves. Analysis of our scat samples is still awaiting pre-requisite genetics work to be done in order to identify these genetically complex eastern canids. We also have a financial need to pay for the analyses of these semples.
We’ve recently begun participating in a two year long national dialogue of wolf recovery stakeholders designed to elicit the opinions of various stakeholder groups with the goal of reducing conflict. This effort is being funded by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and, in my opinion, it serves as an acknowledgement that wolves are here to stay and we need to stop fighting over them.
We have a wonderful new volunteer who is currently working with the Voyageurs Wolf Project in Minnesota. She is developing a research plan for Maine and completing an application to live-trap and collar Maione canids. This project is likely several years away as we continue to seek entities willing to partner with us and/or provide funding.
As you can see, we have lots on our plates. Right now things are happening so fast that we are doing our best to keep up with emails, phone calls, press releases and other calls for our involvement. It feels good to have things moving in a positive direction. As always, we thank you for your support and interest in wolf recovery in the northeast.
John Glowa
From The Biologist:
Eastern Coyote/Coywolf Ecology and Interactions with Prey
By Jonathan G. Way
You may have been fortunate to have glimpsed one trotting through a suburban park or fast-footing across a busy road. Maybe you witnessed a pack in winter chasing white-tailed deer in the snowy North Woods of Maine or on the frozen lakeshores of Nova Scotia, stalking groundhogs in the agricultural regions outside of Burlington, Vermont and Manchester, New Hampshire, or snagging seals on the coastline of Cape Cod, Massachusetts.
Possibly you have seen a mated pair gliding among the mansions of southern Connecticut or have heard pups howling in the woods of towns in Boston Metrowest, or in the mowed fields of the Berkshires in rural western Massachusetts. Perhaps you have spied their tracks while hiking the mountains of the Adirondacks of New York or the Whites of New Hampshire. Maybe you even saw one foraging in one of the urban parks within the Bronx, New York City. Or you might have had the misfortune of possibly losing a pet to one in the suburbs of any northeastern state or province.
One thing is sure, if you live in the Northeast, it is unlikely that what most people simply call ‘coyotes’ live very far from you. It is found throughout the region, from New Jersey and Pennsylvania up to Maine and New York, and ranges north into Canada including southern Quebec and Ontario, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick. In addition, combining both the western and eastern coyote, they collectively live in 49 of the 50 U.S. states, excluding Hawaii, and everywhere along the East Coast except some of the offshore islands. In Maine, and elsewhere, they are by far the most common medium to large canid present in the state.
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The Big Guy
Northeastern North America (Northeast) is home to the largest type of “coyote” in the region, averaging 32 to 40 pounds, with exception individuals weighing up to 55 pounds (see Chapter 2 for more on morphology and genetics). Its paw print is oval and ranges from 3–3.5 inches long, which is literally off the chart where most field guides are concerned, describing coyotes as having a maximum 2.5-inch-long footprint.
In the Northeast their colors range from blonde to darker brown and black, though they are usually tawny brown or agouti in appearance with much speckled black and brown on their magnificent coats. The attributes of big body size and variable coat colors are largely the result of hybridization with wolves, and to a lesser degree, dogs in their past. This has brought about a new concept that we could actually be calling these animals coywolves, which describes the genetic composition of this successful canid. In this article, I will use ‘coyote’, ‘eastern coyote’, ‘northeastern coyote’, and ‘coywolf’ when referring to this animal, since they are all synonyms for the same animal inhabiting the Northeast. Please note that these animals are different than actual wolves that are no doubt returning to the state from southern Canada.
The habitat of the coywolf is tremendously variable and includes all available land ranging from wilderness to rural to urban. However, they survive best, and are often found at higher densities, in places with lots of edge habitat such as agricultural and suburban regions. These areas provide cover and an abundant food supply due to the increased vegetation available at the height (i.e., small to medium sized bushes) of their usual prey of voles, rabbits, and deer. There is also less human hunting due to posted private property and restrictions on the use of guns in developed areas.
Eastern coyotes range throughout every state in the northesat and do very well with the diversity of habitats to choose from, including open fields or impenetrable thick brush, mountains or coastal areas. Marshy wetlands and dark cedar swamps wet their course pads, suburban and urban areas provides areas for their nightly foraging opportunities, and the puckerbrush in conservation areas and formerly old-field habitats hide their prey of rabbit, rodents, and deer, affording them security to spend the day resting. Old fields in rural settings provide mousing (actually meadow vole) opportunities, mixed oak-pine forests in some of our larger natural areas provide denning areas, beachfront along some of the richer sections of the coast provide some of their many travel corridors, and cranberry bogs and old or current fields become their puppy-training centers during mid-to-late summer.
Individual coywolf families enjoy a multitude of habitats that they stake claim to as their pack territory. They declare these areas as their exclusive domain by guarding them from others of their kind. Human created structures, such as powerline rights-of-way and railroad tracks, facilitate their travel.
Foraging and Diet
By studying the content, fur and bones, found in coywolf scat (droppings), one can determine what these animals eat in different regions of the Northeast. The eastern coyote, like the western coyote, is an omnivore, an opportunistic predator who eats anything from meat to melons. Small mammals like mice, voles, rabbits, and woodchucks are their predominant food items in many regions. Farmers love them for this, as woodchucks multiply quickly and are serious crop and garden gobblers. Wild canines help keep their populations under control and happily dispose of the bodies as well, unlike the well-fed family dog who might occasionally kill one but then leaves it in the front yard to rot.
Eastern coyotes have a knack for finding food. In the winter of 2001, I returned to my Cape Cod study site after working at the Bronx Zoo in New York for seven months. I hurriedly went about placing my baited box traps back into the field. To my surprise, one of the locations on a golf course quickly had two collared animals (out of a pack of four) sleeping in the same patch of woods where I had planned ahead of time to deploy the trap. It was almost like they knew I was going to be going there on that day. Needless to say, it didn’t take them long to find that site.
Possibly the strangest food item that eastern coyotes have been documented to eat in this area are seals. I published a paper with a colleague in 2004 documenting a successful predation attempt of a single coywolf killing a young harp seal. I assumed this was an aberrant case of a sick seal. However, within a few years the Marine Mammal Stranding Network (MMSN) documented multiple instances throughout Cape Cod of dead seals that appeared to be the result of canid predation. The necks of the seals were torn out and the carcasses were eaten until the MMSN found them and brought them to their lab for a necropsy. I continue to receive reports of coyotes feasting on phocids.
Coyotes will eat larger mammals where available, but these are potentially dangerous food choices. White-tailed deer, for instance, have been documented killing wolves in Minnesota with their hooves and antlers, so it is no small task to secure one as a food item. Acting as scavengers or opportunistic predators, coywolves may make highway department road-kill patrols less necessary by providing the service of disposing of dead deer (usually under the cover of darkness), or killing sick or road-injured deer in the woods. However, during winter, when snow impedes the movement of deer, researchers like Brent Patterson in Nova Scotia, and Gerry Lavigne and Dan Harrison in Maine, have documented eastern coyote packs routinely killing and subsisting largely on a diet of deer, with snowshoe hares secondary on their menu. This, of course, has made the animal controversial in northern Maine, with a pro-hunting contingent pushing through legislation to control their numbers.
Certainly, though, newborn white-tailed deer fawns are actively sought throughout the Northeast when they are most vulnerable during June and July. However, research shows that other predators, especially black bears, kill at least as many of these neonates as canines do during this time. Thus, it is largely during severe winters when coywolves may kill seven to ten-month-old juveniles or older deer, that they would have the most impact on deer populations. Where deer are overabundant, like throughout most of New Jersey and Connecticut and all the way up through southern Maine, this culling can only be beneficial to deer herds. Additional research needs to test the effect that coyotes have on deer in highly urban areas, but Javier Monzón’s team has discovered that eastern coyotes have become more wolf-like – up to 30% - where preying on high density deer populations.
Predator Interactions Keep Prey Alert
It is often claimed that no natural predators of deer, other than humans, remain in this region because of the extermination of the larger predators, mainly wolves and cougars (also known as mountain lions or pumas). I tend to strongly disagree. There is little doubt that many factors have contributed to current high deer densities, including: 1) extirpation of those larger predators, 2) reduced (or no) human hunting in certain areas, and 3) habitat conversions that favor deer. Other predators native to the Northeast, primarily black bears and bobcats, might prey on deer, but have never been shown to regulate their populations.
Now that we have these high deer populations in many areas, there is probably no way that wolves or cougars, even in the unlikely event that they returned, would have much of an effect on deer populations. This is the case for three reasons:
1) Deer are most abundant in suburban areas, which are not candidate locations for a reintroduction or restoration of larger predators.
2) Larger predators are not able to live successfully alongside humans like the smaller carnivores (and the large, but omnivorous black bear) can. They would be more likely to return to more rural areas like northern New England where deer are actually not overabundant.
3) Deer are likely so numerous that it is debatable if cougars or wolves, due to their wide-ranging behavior and low densities, would even be able to reduce deer numbers in many of these hotspot areas. This is also assuming they were able to exceed the unlikely odds of returning back to and surviving in human-populated portions of southern New England and the Tri-state area of New Jersey, New York, and Connecticut.
Meanwhile, coywolves, capable of killing deer, currently do live near humans throughout the Northeast. Being smaller carnivores that reside in family units much like wolves do, they naturally live at considerably higher densities than wolves or cougars, and could potentially have more of an impact, and may already have, on deer populations than all the other large carnivore species combined, especially given the current urbanized landscape of the Northeast. Research in northern areas has determined coyotes to be a significant cause of mortality for white-tailed deer, especially when other prey (e.g., hares, voles) are less available. In fact, it has been noted that coyotes in the Northeast may have replaced wolves during winter and spring, in addition to the summer, which supported the hypothesis that coyotes were as effective as wolves in preying upon fawns (from 0 to 10 months of age) throughout the year. And coyotes are being blamed as a scapegoat to be controlled to boost deer and caribou (Rangifer tarandus) numbers in parts of the northern part of northeastern North America. Furthermore, recent evidence from the southeast U.S. is showing that deer numbers are likely being impacted by recently established coyote populations and wildlife managers are contemplating ways to protect deer populations such as reducing antlerless (female) hunting.
While the eastern coyote can function as a top-order predator in many ecosystems, it is important to note two things. One, because of their medium-size, they don’t have to rely on deer and can subsist on smaller, medium-sized prey. Wolves on the other hand, normally subsist on ungulates for the majority of their diet. Second, they are not ecological efficient predators of moose, and even though they have been documented preying on them, they haven’t replaced the role of full-bodied wolves in northern New England and New York where moose are common. This begs the need for a larger canid, that is, the wolf, to return to northern Maine and other suitable habitat in the northeast.
Coexistence
Given their ecological importance, we should willingly accept this new predator for its undeniable value to the environment. If we try and avoid unwanted interactions with them, and allow them to provide their predatory and scavenger services free of charge, it will be a win-win situation. Over time, their presence will make a difference and no doubt help restore the myriad landscapes of the Northeast to a more natural state, especially when living at ecologically effective densities. I find it unbelievable and of backwards logic that as wildlife managers allow longer and longer deer hunting seasons, to presumably try and lower deer numbers, they also allow the liberal killing of an animal that can at the very least help keep deer numbers in check.
Eastern coyotes, similar to wolves and western coyotes, are directly involved in the evolution of their prey, and are thus important members of the ecosystem. The importance of predators acting as ‘keystone species’ is clearly shown in the book by William Stolzenburg, Where the Wild Things Were. The ability of carnivores to control populations of other species, both directly (prey) and indirectly (vegetation), is notable.
If anyone has ever wondered why elk and bison are so formidable, it’s because of the relentless pestering from bears and wolves. Deer are so swift because their prime predators are the light-footed wolves and coyotes. Rabbits and other small game run, climb, and fly so quickly to avoid and flee from crafty coyotes and foxes. It is unnatural to have prey and not have their ecologically matched predators honing their evolutionary development.
The East Coast had dynamic predator-prey interactions for millennia until the around the 1800s when humans reduced the populations of many species, including prey animals such as deer. Roughly a century or two later, many prey species have recovered on their own or with human assistance. However, the remarkable colonization of this region by a hybrid canid from 30–80 years ago, depending on where you live, has helped restore nature’s balance. The Northeast’s many ecosystems are surely glad to have this new canid among its major players. Hopefully one day very soon, it will be interacting with its larger cousin – the wolf – in Maine and the rest of the northeast.
The text is an adaptation of excerpts of Way’s book
Coywolf: Eastern Coyote Genetics, Ecology, Management, and Politics which can be downloaded here: https://www.easterncoyoteresearch.com/coywolfbook/
The Power of Individuals
By Jonathan G. Way
I recently published a book on my experiences of watching a grizzly bear in Yellowstone National Park last April (2023) for 9 days. It was an intimate account of one grizzly feeding on a bison carcass that died over the winter. The bear fished it out of a small pond and feasted on it, alongside other animals, including coyotes and wolves. It was amazing to watch.
That also got me thinking about the importance of individual canids (wolves and “coyotes”, although all our coyotes in the northeast are hybrids between western coyotes, wolves, and a small amount of dog) that are present in Maine and the rest of the northeast. While the grizzly I watched was in a world famous area (i.e., Yellowstone), and is a charismatic species in and of itself, there are no doubt many canids who have had amazing lives in their own right, right here where we live. However, without anyone studying or watching them, except maybe on trail-cam pictures and videos, nobody knows much about them.
State wildlife agencies famously do the opposite of what I just discussed and, instead, they focus on populations. Essentially, or should I say effectively, they give little thought to individuals “as long as the population does not go extinct”. In my view, that leads to terrible management decisions like allowing the year long hunting of ecologically important, family-oriented species like eastern coyotes, which is all to appease a tiny minority of people that want to kill them just to kill them (not including the occasional real need to remove individuals from a population). It is important to note that these agencies are entrenched in their viewpoints and will employ a campaign of retribution if one tries to change them. For instance, MassWildlife shut down my research career in that state by speaking out on these topics. I even wrote a book Coywolf (see part 2), which details their tactics.
In my book Suburban Howls, I tried to change that tone by discussing individual eastern coyotes in detail. I even wrote a tribute to a particular individual, named Casper, as I followed her for many years via the two different radio-collars she wore. She was actually the heaviest female “coyote” ever recorded, even though we now know that all coywolves are ~25-30% wolf. It was an in-depth account of a creature that hadn’t been studied in urbanized areas of the northeast until now.
In another pack, I documented play and social behavior in a group as they raised their pups. I knew the group very well, including a long-time radio-collared male named Sill. He had a mate, two former pups (at the time, they were likely yearlings), and his current pups of the year. Even as an old adult, he would spend time playing with his group. It was marvelous to watch, and showed just how important individuals are to canid society.
So, next time you are in the field tracking animals in the snow in the winter or possibly watching a canid in the summer with their pups, keep in mind that, just like us, they all have individual stories to tell. Wildlife in national parks are famous, in part, because people get paid to study many of those species, so they know many of those stories. While that is vitally important, remember that this is occurring all over the north woods of Maine, and far beyond there, for just about all species, but especially for ecologically and family-oriented canids like coyotes and wolves.
For more information and to download Jon’s new e-book (free of charge), see:
Way, J.G. 2024. A Beary Special April in Yellowstone. Eastern Coyote/Coywolf Research, Barnstable, Massachusetts. 596 pages. E-book. Open Access URL: http://www.easterncoyoteresearch.com/BearySpecialAprilinYellowstone.
Other references of interest related to this article:
Books:
Way, J. G. 2007. Suburban Howls: Tracking the Eastern Coyote in Urban Massachusetts. Dog Ear Publishing, Indianapolis, Indiana, USA. 338 pages. Buy here.
Way, J.G. 2021. Coywolf: Eastern Coyote Genetics, Ecology, Management, and Politics. Eastern Coyote/Coywolf Research, Barnstable, MA. 277 pages. E-book. Open Access URL: http://www.easterncoyoteresearch.com/CoywolfBook/.
Scientific articles:
For more information on research completed by Dr. Jonathan Way please visit the Eastern Coyote/Coywolf Research website linked below.
A New Wolf Biologist Joins the Maine Wolf Coalition
Hello, my name is Maeve Rogers.
I am a wolf researcher who has had the privilege of working with wolves in both Yellowstone and Voyageurs National Parks. My journey into wolf conservation truly began as a child when I became inspired by the Yellowstone wolf reintroduction and eagerly started to learn as much about wolf ecology as I could. This childhood passion naturally guided me into a career centered around wolves. I began my professional journey during my time as a college student in Bozeman, Montana, where I actively engaged with wolves in and around Yellowstone National Park as a dedicated volunteer and intern for the park's wolf project. After graduation, I was offered a job with the Voyageurs Wolf Project in which I accepted and traded big sky country for the land of 10,000 lakes.
My Current Role in Wolf Research
For the past three years, I have been working as a Wolf Predation and Research Technician in northern Minnesota. My job entails trapping and GPS-collaring wolves to gather valuable locational data that aids our project in studying wolf ecology. The project’s main focus is to better understand the summer ecology of wolves in boreal ecosystems by investigating predation and reproductive behaviors. My day-to-day tasks include visiting ‘cluster’ sites where collared wolves have spent time, investigating den sites, maintaining a large series of trail cameras, and more. I was also part of a collaborative effort to aid a local Minnesota rancher in mitigating recurring wolf conflicts on his cattle. Currently during the off-season, I am working at maintaining a large dataset that catalogs separate video events captured on trail cameras in and around Voyageurs National Park. Cataloging trail camera data like this allows the project to get a better estimate of the wolf population in the area, wolf mortality rates, to capture predation or other interesting behaviors, and much more. Furthermore, it enables us to enhance our knowledge of other wildlife species across the landscape, particularly the populations of prey species that wolves hunt. Beyond my hands-on scientific endeavors, I am deeply committed to public outreach and education initiatives by sharing my knowledge and passion for wolves with diverse audiences.
From Minnesota to Maine
Parts of northern Minnesota, particularly the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness (BWCAW), and Maine initially appear strikingly similar in topography and habitat. Both regions are cloaked in boreal forests and dotted with thousands of lakes, offering rich wildlife and authentic wilderness experiences. Positioned at nearly identical latitudes, one might gaze down from a rocky perch onto a serene lake and wonder if it's Minnesota or Maine below. Maine's diverse topography extends from sea level along its coasts to the towering Mount Katahdin at 5,269 feet in elevation. This contrasts with Minnesota's more modest elevation range, culminating at the 2,301-foot Eagle Mountain.
Moreover, Maine and Minnesota exhibit striking parallels in their logging practices. Many areas of each state feature a spider-web-like network of logging roads and clear-cut zones, reflecting their shared history of forestry. Logging stands as a significant economic and cultural pillar in both Maine and Minnesota, sustaining thriving timber industries and contributing to local economies.
Yet, amidst these parallels, a notable disparity arises. Despite their historical presence in Maine and the state's ample potential for a thriving population, the state lacks a wolf population. In contrast, Minnesota boasts a robust wolf population that persisted despite concerted eradication efforts. While both states are home to moose, deer, beavers, and black bears, the howls of wolves distinctly resonate through Minnesota's forests. Intriguingly, Maine's rich ecosystems support excellent prey populations with a moose population more than twenty times larger than that of Minnesota. Like other states across the country, perhaps Maine is ready to take significant strides towards implementing additional conservation initiatives directed at researching and safeguarding native canines, along with the restoration of a wolf population.
I am deeply committed to supporting the restoration of wolf populations in the northeastern United States by building strong connections with local communities through outreach and education efforts. I have deep family roots in Maine; both of my grandparents were born and raised amidst its rugged beauty, where whispering pines and pristine lakes shaped their childhood memories. My grandfather served as my gateway to the natural world. His profound love for the land and its creatures ignited a similar passion within me. Now, as I reflect on his legacy, I am compelled to honor his memory by contributing to wolf conservation initiatives in his cherished home state. It would be a privilege to carry forward his reverence for nature and work towards ensuring that Maine's wild spaces thrive for generations to come. My goal is to shed light on wolf ecology, their historical range, and the vast potential for sustainable wolf habitat in the northeast. I prioritize facilitating research on native canine populations, particularly in Maine where studies are limited. Collaboration with a diverse array of community members is at the core of my mission, recognizing our shared responsibility for safeguarding Maine’s forests and the invaluable wildlife they harbor.
Can you tell? Which of the following are Eastern Wolves from Canada?
Of these eight canids, two are Ontario eastern wolves. The other six are possible wolves living in Maine. Can you tell which is which? The answers will be in the Spring 2024 newsletter.
Canid A
Canid B
Canid C
Canid D
Canid E
Canid F
Canid G
Canid H
A Carousel of Canid Images from around Maine
(To change the photo, hover your mouse over the photo and click on the arrows to move through the photographs.) (Source: MWC)
For more information please visit the following Maine Wolf Coalition sites.
The Maine Wolf Coalition, Inc. is a 501c3 non-pr0fit corporation dedicated to wolf recovery in Maine through research education, and protection. Tax deductible donations can be made at the Pay Pal Link below or sent to:
The Maine Wolf Coalition, Inc.,
30 Meadow Wood Drive,
South China, ME 04358