Biologists from the Service have examined new findings from the National Park Service that relate to the effects of winter recreation activities on gray wolves at Voyageurs National Park in northern Minnesota.
"As part of our formal consultation 10 years ago with Voyageurs National Park, we requested that the park investigate whether human activity in and around the park results in adverse cumulative impacts to the gray wolf" said Dan Stinnett, field supervisor of the Services Twin Cities Field Office. "The new information reveals that, among other findings, bay closure has no biological significance to a healthy gray wolf population at Voyageurs National Park."
The modifications to the Biological Opinion are based on nine years of wolf research conducted in the park that determined closing the bays specifically for wolf protection was unwarranted.
"While we have modified our language regarding restrictions on the bays, the main tenets of our 1992 Biological Opinion are still in place," Stinnett said. "We continue to recognize the potential for interaction between wolves and humans at the park and, with the new information, can determine if other measures are needed to minimize the likelihood of adverse impacts. All measures necessary to protect areas important to the federally-threatened bald eagle remain in effect at the park."
Approximately two-thirds of the parks 218,054 acres are closed to snowmobiles and available to gray wolves, its prey and other wildlife. Lifting restrictions in the bays will provide an additional 4,667 acres of frozen lake surface to winter park users.
In 1992, the Service issued a Biological Opinion that addressed the impact of recreational activities on federally-threatened bald eagles and gray wolves in the park along the Minnesota-Canada border. While impacts were determined not to jeopardize the continued existence of either species, the Service recommended park managers adopt prudent management actions, including restricted motorized vehicle activities, at 17 bays in winter for gray wolves. It also recommended the Park Service determine whether the cumulative impacts of human activity in and around the park would lead to higher incidence of adverse human and gray wolf contact.
Park managers adopted the Services recommendations and restricted winter snowmobiling in specific bay areas. With Service concurrence, restrictions were lifted on six of the 17 bays in 1997. The Park Service also began its own study to assess the cumulative impact of human activities on wolf behavior in the park. The results of research performed over the Park Services nine-year study indicated that closure of the bays had no discernable or identifiable effect on where wolves go and what they do in the park, and, that continued restrictions on motorized vehicles in fragmented bay areas was unwarranted. As a result, Park managers lifted the restrictions it had placed on snowmobiling in the bays in November 2001.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is the principal federal agency responsible for conserving, protecting and enhancing fish, wildlife and plants and their habitats for the continuing benefit of the American people. The Service manages the 94-million-acre National Wildlife Refuge System which encompasses more than 535 national wildlife refuges, thousands of small wetlands and other special management areas. It also operates 70 national fish hatcheries, 64 fishery resource offices and 78 ecological services field stations. The agency enforces Federal wildlife laws, administers the Endangered Species Act, manages migratory bird populations, restores nationally significant fisheries, conserves and restores wildlife habitat such as wetlands, and helps foreign governments with their conservation efforts. It also oversees the Federal Aid program that distributes hundreds of millions of dollars in excise taxes on fishing and hunting equipment to state fish and wildlife agencies.
For further information about programs and activities of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in the Great Lakes-Big Rivers Region, please visit our website at http://midwest.fws.gov
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