Repopulation of wolves in Midwestern United States
Grey wolves were considered extirpated from the conterminous United States in the 1940s, but some survived in the remote northeastern corner of Minnesota.
After they were listed as an endangered species, they naturally expanded into many of the habitats in the Midwestern states of Minnesota, Michigan, and Wisconsin they had previously occupied.
The western Great Lakes region they inhabit includes the forested areas of these states, along with the Canadian provinces of Manitoba and Ontario.
Management under the Act allowed the remaining wolves in Minnesota to flourish and repopulate northern Wisconsin and the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.
Management plans guide each state's decisions about wolf regulations for hunting, trapping, and culling along with population monitoring, and livestock damage control.
Wild wolves became locally extinct from shooting, trapping, and poisoning, with support from government bounty programs.
[3] While wolves were considered extirpated in every other state except for Alaska, they survived in a remote northeastern corner of Minnesota of sub-boreal forests and lakes.
[5] Known as timber wolves, the few hundred animals in dozens of packs remaining in Minnesota and Ontario began to naturally disperse through their historic habitat in the western Great Lakes forests under the protected status.
That program has killed about 200 wolves each year while the endangered listing in Wisconsin and Michigan did not allow lethal control.
Having reached that goal in 1999 with a population of 197, the state adopted the Wisconsin Wolf Management Plan for guidance towards eventual delisting.
[13] Michigan removed wolves from the state's list of threatened and endangered species in 2009 having reached the recovery goal of 200 for five consecutive years in 2004.
[1] In 2012, FWS issued a rule that classified and delisted a sub-species called the Western Great Lakes wolves under the federal Endangered Species Act.
[26] The delisting was challenged in federal court by wildlife advocates in response to aggressive hunting laws enacted in states like Montana and Idaho.
[27][28] Officials in those states were responding to periodic attacks on livestock and perceived reduced numbers of elk and deer that many hunters blame on the wolves.
[29] At the November 2021 hearing, a federal judge focused on a particular issue; Were wolves properly classified under the endangered act prior to losing their protected status last year?
[4] Some state governments welcomed the delisting as they have long sought the ability to manage wolves including controlling their numbers through hunting and trapping.
[27] The delisting has been supported by the Department of Natural Resources of Michigan as wolves have met and exceeded the biological recovery goals that would necessitate protection.
[20] The wolves on Isle Royale, Michigan, in Lake Superior are considered separately and are not included in the count for the state.
[50] They set the initial hunt for November 2021 which would have allowed time to assess the wolf population, receive public input, consult with the Native American tribes and prepare a plan.
[52] After an informational committee meeting on January 13, 2021, twelve elected officials sent a letter to the Natural Resources Board stating that the consensus was that wolves in Wisconsin need to be hunted now.
[54] A court ordered season did open at the end of February after the November date was challenged by an out-of-state hunter advocacy group.
The hunt, hastily organized on two weeks’ notice, was based on the state law requiring a season when wolves were not listed.
[57] The tribes consider the wolf culturally and spiritually important and place a high value on the ecological role of the species.
[66] Scientists recommended a lower number as the swift removal of wolves from the state twice in one year would likely harm their natural reproduction process.
[72] A temporary injunction, issued on October 22 in a legal challenge brought by coalition of wildlife advocacy groups, halted the season two weeks before it was set to begin.
[77] The WDNR in 2022 conducted a social science survey of public attitudes toward wolves in Wisconsin as part of the update of the wolf management plan.
A study published in 2023 found that beavers were more likely to be killed by wolves the farther they ventured away from ponds in search of food.
