Detroit Free Press Video Editor Mike Wendland Films Wolves in U.P.

Wolf Population of U.P. Estimated at 500, Some Are Ranging Lower Peninsula

June 10, 2008
By: Dave Rogers

Wolves are getting so common in Michigan that a newsman with a video camera was able to shoot several crossing an Upper Peninsula road.

Mike Wendland, Detroit Free Press technology editor and onetime Bay City news reporter, has turned to tracking wolves as part of his job.

Wendland spends most of his time writing about iPods, Blackberries and other exotic technology. But as a supplement to being perhaps the state's leading tech guru, he covers wildlife and folklore stories.

Wendland was in Bay City recently doing a piece on local connection to the legendary Paul Bunyan and local folklore that is attracting more and more tourist attention.

The Bay City segment was one of a recently completed a five part series on Michigan attractions.

His most recent feat, one that should win him wide attention to the Free Press video website, is capturing three wolves on videotape near Baraga in the Upper Peninsula.

In the video story, Wendland interviews two experts on wolves, Jim Hammill, former Michigan Department of Natural Resources (DNR) biologist, and Robert Aho, DNR wildlife biologist in the northwest U.P.

Both experts told Wendland for the record that his chances of seeing a wolf, or even wolf tracks, were extremely slim. Hammill said his odds were "about one in a thousand."

The Free Press newsman promptly drove out on a U.P. highway in Barago County, spotted three wolves crossing the road, and stealthily filmed the trio slinking into the woods.

"The recovery of the gray wolf population in Michigan's Upper Peninsula is perhaps the greatest wildlife success story in the past 150 years," Wendland wrote.

After being hunted for years in Michigan because of bounties and becoming scarce, wolves are believed to have returned to the state from Canada, Wisconsin and Minnesota.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service removed wolves from the federal endangered species list for the Rocky Mountain area, last region protected, on March 28. Hunters began immediately to hunt them, with eight reportedly shot in Wyoming, and the de-listing prompting protests by conservationists. Ranchers and farmers, however, supported the move because wolves prey on livestock and dogs.

Wolves were de-listed in Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota last year by the federal government. Wildlife advocacy groups have filed suits against the de-listing. The wolf population of the 48 contiguous states is estimated at 5,000.

Wolves would again be listed by the government as endangered if their population drops below 100 in any state.

Moose also have made a comeback although the two species, wolves and moose, were near extinction only a few decades ago. Wendland also got some video footage of moose, not quite so rare as the wolf shots.

In fact, Hammill, now a wildlife consultant, told Wendland that wolves may need to be controlled, that is trapped or hunted. The number of wolves in the U.P. is said to be increasing by about 15 percent a year.

See Wendland's article and video "Is it time to hunt and trap wolves in Michigan?" at www.freep.com.###