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Draft Impact Study Regarding Wolves on the Island

Posted: Fri Dec 16, 2016 8:51 am
by hooky
Saw this posted this morning on the park's Facebook page.

https://parkplanning.nps.gov/projectHom ... ctId=59316

The text from the Facebook post:
Isle Royale National Park made available today the Draft Environmental Impact Statement to Address the Presence of Wolves (draft EIS) which evaluates whether and how to bring wolves to Isle Royale to function as the apex predator in the near term within a changing and dynamic island ecosystem. A decision is needed because the potential absence of wolves raises concerns about possible effects to Isle Royale’s current ecosystem, including effects to both the moose population and Isle Royale’s forest/vegetation communities.
The draft EIS is open for public review and comment for 90 days, concluding March 15, 2017. The draft EIS is available on the NPS Planning, Environment and Public Comment (PEPC) website at: http://parkplanning.nps.gov/isrowolves.
The draft EIS evaluates four alternatives: a no action alternative and three action alternatives. Alternative B is the National Park Service (NPS) preferred alternative. It calls for the immediate introduction of 20 to 30 wolves to the park over a three year period. The goal of the preferred alternative is the immediate introduction of enough wolves to the park to sustain a population.
Isle Royale National Park will host public meetings and webinars to discuss the draft EIS in February. Meetings will be held in the Houghton area as well as other sites to be determined in Minnesota, Wisconsin, and/or Michigan. Dates, times and locations of these meetings will be announced in future news releases, here on Facebook, on the park’s website, http://www.nps.gov/isro , and at the planning site listed above.
Comments may be submitted online at http://parkplanning.nps.gov/isrowolves, or by mailing or hand delivering comments to Superintendent Phyllis Green, Isle Royale National Park, ISRO Wolves, 800 East Lakeshore Drive, Houghton, Michigan 49931.
Link for the Facebook post

Re: Draft Impact Study Regarding Wolves on the Island

Posted: Fri Dec 16, 2016 9:34 pm
by johnhens
I was reading the document of the panel put together to address the various issues with potentially bringing wolves to IR. Of note to me, was Doug Smith, the wolf biologist from YStone, who has first hand experience with releasing wolves, reintroducing wolves, was not on the panel. Neither was David Mech. Rolf and John were both on the panel as they should be. I learned a lot from reading the document.

https://parkplanning.nps.gov/document.c ... ntID=76680

Re: Draft Impact Study Regarding Wolves on the Island

Posted: Sat Dec 17, 2016 1:03 am
by Midwest Ed
Here's a direct link to the proposed actions. Forces a download of the PDF which you need to open separately.

And here's a direct link to what the NPS calls their compiled Q&A of expert opinions. Forces a download of the PDF which you need to open separately.

Both of the above documents came from this link which takes you to the comment form. Open comments are now open.

Re: Draft Impact Study Regarding Wolves on the Island

Posted: Mon Mar 06, 2017 8:13 am
by johnhens
Just a reminder, if you wish to submit comments on the DEIS, the last day to do so is 3/15/17.