MARQUETTE, Mich. (Michigan News Source) – The latest Michigan gray wolf survey conducted in early 2022 by the Michigan Department of Natural Resources (DNR) shows that the wolf population in the Upper Peninsula “remains stable, as it has for more than a decade.”

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Wildlife biologists released their findings on Tuesday with Cody Norton, the DNR’s wolf specialist, saying, “These results show a continued trend of statistical stability, indicating that gray wolves may have reached their biological carrying capacity within the Upper Peninsula. Wolf presence has only been confirmed twice genetically in the Lower Peninsula in recent times; in 2004 and 2014.”

The survey, done by the Michigan DNR, is conducted every winter and 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.

Completing analysis of the field data collected during the DNR’s 2022 wolf survey was delayed during the past year as wildlife biologists focused on updating the state’s Wolf Management Plan. The plan was updated using all pertinent social and biological scientific knowledge on wolves to date.

The minimum wolf population estimate from the 2022 survey is 631 wolves, plus or minus 49 wolves. A total of 136 packs were estimated with an average number of individuals per pack calculated at 4.5. Since 2011, the minimum estimate for the wolf population has remained stable ranging from 618 to 695.

Norton said, “Our minimum wolf population estimate is not statistically different from the last estimate in 2020. All of the estimates since 2011 have not differed statistically.”

However, wolf density appears to have shifted over time. DNR wildlife biologist Brian Roell said, “The density of wolves may have decreased in some areas of the west U.P. and increased in some parts of the east U.P.”

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This may be linked to significant winter weather events during 2013-2015, which greatly reduced deer densities in mid- and high-snowfall zones of the region.

Surveys done during 2005-2010 failed to indicate the presence of any wolves in the Lower Peninsula. However, 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. Although it is possible that wolves occur in the Lower Peninsula but as of January 2023, no wolves are known to exist there. Before that, a wolf was confirmed in the Lower Peninsula in 2004.

The legal status of wolves at both the federal and state level has changed several times, which impacts the ability of all agencies to manage wolves. Regardless of changes in legal status, wolves in Michigan have surpassed federal and state population recovery goals for 22 years. Gray wolves are currently on the federal list of threatened and endangered species. Consequently, they cannot be killed legally unless in defense of human life.

Regardless of the federal listing status, the Michigan DNR has said they will continue to have management responsibility for wolves in the state. It is the regulatory authority over lethal take of wolves that varies with the changing status of wolves.

Implementing some portions of the Michigan Wolf Management Plan are curtailed given the federally endangered legal status of wolves.