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Coyotes-Wolves-Cougars.blogspot.com

Grizzly bears, black bears, wolves, coyotes, cougars/ mountain lions,bobcats, wolverines, lynx, foxes, fishers and martens are the suite of carnivores that originally inhabited North America after the Pleistocene extinctions. This site invites research, commentary, point/counterpoint on that suite of native animals (predator and prey) that inhabited The Americas circa 1500-at the initial point of European exploration and subsequent colonization. Landscape ecology, journal accounts of explorers and frontiersmen, genetic evaluations of museum animals, peer reviewed 20th and 21st century research on various aspects of our "Wild America" as well as subjective commentary from expert and layman alike. All of the above being revealed and discussed with the underlying goal of one day seeing our Continent rewilded.....Where big enough swaths of open space exist with connective corridors to other large forest, meadow, mountain, valley, prairie, desert and chaparral wildlands.....Thereby enabling all of our historic fauna, including man, to live in a sustainable and healthy environment. - Blogger Rick

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Tuesday, May 31, 2011

Indian Tribes in the Great Lakes region will have management responsibility over Wolves that occupy tribal lands lands should USFW delist the Wolves in Minnesota, Michigan and Wisconsin..............If the Tribes employ forward thinking Wildlife Biologists, the howl of the Wolf will likely remain vibrant in the Land of the Lakes for years to come

Red Lake Band receives $200,000 grant to track timber wolves

By: Brad Dokken
    The Red Lake Band of Chippewa has received a $200,000 federal grant to launch a satellite tracking study of timber wolves on tribal lands. Jay Huseby, wildlife director for the Red Lake Band of Chippewa, the grant will allow the tribe to purchase 10 GPS collars to track timber wolves on tribal lands and learn more about the types of habitat they prefer.The collars cost about $2,000 each, Huseby said.
    Huseby said the timing is "perfect," with the recent Fish and Wildlife Service announcement that it plans to remove wolves from federal protection in the western Great Lakes region, which includes Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan. That will return wolf management to the states, and the Red Lake Band will have sole authority of managing wolves on tribal lands, which cover more than 840,000 acres near Upper and Lower Red Lake and parts of the Northwest Angle.
    If all goes according to plan, Huseby said the band will trap and collar the wolves this fall. The goal, he said, is to collar five wolves within the core of the Red Lake Indian Reservation and five on tribal lands at the Northwest Angle. He said the band hopes to tap into the expertise of biologists from the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources and other agencies to capture the wolves. Most likely, he said, the capture will involve padded leg-hold traps and large snares.
    The two-year tracking study marks the second phase of a research project that began in 2008. Huseby said the first phase involved getting information on wolf abundance and distribution to help the tribe develop its wolf management plan.The initial research included trail cameras, Huseby said, but with the management plan now in place, being able to track wolves with satellite technology will be "huge," in terms of the information it provides."It will help us get more detail," he said.
    Studies have shown Red Lake tribal lands have a potential population of 60 to 72 wolves, and the Northwest Angle has two permanent packs with 10 to 12 wolves each. But those numbers can change, based on movement to and from Canada, because the Northwest Angle is surrounded by Manitoba and Ontario on three sides.The upcoming study will help shed light on the extent of that migration.
    "The jurisdictional issue will be really complex up there with Manitoba, Ontario and state land," Huseby said. "So any wolf issues could get really complex."Huseby said wolves are doing well on tribal lands, but some of the animals in the Northwest Angle have shown signs of mange, a contagious skin disease caused by parasites.He said the band is working with the University of Minnesota's veterinary diagnostics lab to deliver for testing the carcasses of any wolves that might be found.
    "We put cameras out there for deer and saw wolves showing moderate signs of mange," Huseby said. "What happens to a wild wolf when it gets mange? Does it make it or does it peel off from the rest of the pack and die?"The upcoming study hopefully will help answer that question — and others.

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