Isle Royale Forums

From Michigan Tech:

https://www.mtu.edu/news/stories/2020/j ... s-off.html

Looking at the MODIS images, looks to be ice around the island. It will be interesting to see when they go out. I know cloud cover over the lake can be a limiting factor for the flights out there (I believe they fly from Ely).

They could be there now. In 2018, the study began on January 16th (it was delayed ten days last January because of a government shutdown).

Update:

We are currently half way through the moose census of winter 2020! Each year, John Vucetich, a researcher and professor at Michigan Technological University, or Rolf Peterson, a research professor at Michigan Technological University, and experienced pilot Don Murray conduct surveys from a small airplane to estimate the size of the moose population on Isle Royale. They do this by counting the number of moose see on >90 survey plots located across the island. These estimates of the number of moose on the island each year help researchers and the National Park Service monitor how the moose population increases or decreases in response to changes in weather, food availability, and predation. It will be interesting to see if the growth of the moose population has slowed following the relocation of new wolves to the island.