Isle Royale National Park

1
Isle Royale National Park
2
The Island

• Isle Royale is a small island on the edge of
  lake superior. 45 miles long and 9 miles wide,
  it covers 210 square miles, 90 of which is
  federally designated wilderness.
• As a national park and an international
  biosphere preserve, Isle Royale is home to some
  of the most pristine wilderness and wildlife.

3
People and Isle Royale

• As a federally designated wilderness, Isle
  Royale is strictly out of bounds for development
  and industry. There are 2 small harbors on either
  end of the island, but they are the only major
  sites on the island with power and running water.
  During the winter, the island is abandoned and
  there are no residents.
• As a national park, the island is protected by
  strict Leave No Trace guidelines. As such,
  hikers and campers must pack out all trash and
  waste. Fires are only allowed in specially
  designated fire pits and may only be fueled by
  dead wood. There are no pets allowed on the
  island and feeding the local wildlife is
  prohibited.

4
The History of Isle Royale

• For hundreds of years Isle Royale has been the
  center of attention for many early trades. This
  includes copper mining and beaver trapping. The
  French Voyageurs were some of the most famous of
  Isle Royales inhabitants. These rugged
  frontiersmen made the great lakes famous and Isle
  Royale was one of the centers of fur trade, an
  important stop near Grand Portage, Minnesota.
  Native Americans and later the American Fur
  company mined the island for copper, but met
  little success.

5
The Flora and Fauna
6
The Science of Isle Royale

• Because of its pristine nature, Isle Royale is
  a sought after place to conduct research. The
  islands wolf packs have been the subject of many
  studies, and Isle Royale has been the setting for
  the longest predator-prey relationship study The
  wolf and moose study.
• While most research lasts a year or two, the
  study that has been conducted on Isle Royale has
  been in progress for several decades and is
  continuing today. The isolation of the island
  from other ecosystems allows scientists and
  researchers to observe the effects the wolves and
  moose have on each other as well as their
  surrounding eco system.
• The wolves and moose also are isolated from other
  predator prey relationships, as the moose are the
  wolves primary food (about 90) and the wolves
  are the mooses only predator. The topographical
  isolation gives researchers the ability to track
  individual wolves.

7
Before the wolves

• In 1929 and 1930, a researcher named Alphred
  Murie discovered a teeming moose population,
  about 2-3 thousand Moose total. He predicted a
  substantial decline within a few years. In 1935,
  another researcher discovered that the population
  had crashed to about 500 moose total. After 10
  years, areas of the island rejuvenated by forest
  fire were densely repopulated with moose.
• The extreme population fluctuations had been a
  trend for several decades and continued as until
  the wolves populated the island sometime between
  1948 and 1951. The lack of predators allowed the
  moose populations to grow unchecked until the
  population density grew critical. This in turn
  caused heavy starvation and population crashes.

8
The Moose and Wolf Study

• Beginning in 1959, Durwood Allen and several
  graduate students began to study the wolf-moose
  relationship directly.
• The research fluctuated from the wolves and moose
  to general ecology for 10 years. In 1970, the
  focus was shifted to wolves and moose permanently
  and the leadership shifted to Rolf Peterson in
  1975. In 1990 John Vucetich began working on the
  project, and became a co-investigator on the
  project. In the summer of 2005 I was present at
  a presentation John Vucetich gave regarding the
  current results of his research.

9
Isle Royale and Me

• During the past 4 years I have taken 2 trips to
  Isle Royale. The first was only a family
  vacation, but this past summer I spent a week on
  the island volunteering as a trail maintainer. I
  spent 5 days with a sierra club volunteer work
  crew chopping down brush, digging drainage
  ditches and clearing trails along the Minong
  ridge.

10
Isle Royale and You

• As the least visited national parks in the
  United States, Isle Royales 210 square miles are
  more than enough to provide a quality experience
  for anyone who likes to camp, hike, explore, or
  just get away from civilization. Though it is
  the least visited of all of the United States
  national parks, it has the most return visits.
• Isle Royale is also a great place to volunteer
  or work. Programs are available through the
  National Park Service, Sierra Club and various
  other groups.