ISLE ROYALE, MI – For more than six decades, researchers from Michigan Technological University have flown into Michigan\u2019s remote Isle Royale in Lake Superior to document the wolf packs and the moose that live there.<\/p>\n
They spend weeks each winter monitoring wolf and moose activity from aerial surveys and collecting data on foot. This cold-weather work pairs with an established summer research program.<\/p>\n
This year\u2019s Winter Study could be extra challenging for the team. In the last week, they landed on the island archipelago during the bitter deep freeze at a time when wind chills on Isle Royale were registering 50 below zero. <\/p>\n
\u201cWinter Study has begun,\u201d the team posted on social media, along with some frigid-looking photos. \u201cThe small team arrived Thursday in a brief window of good weather. They landed on Washington Harbor where the ice is about 18 inches thick.<\/p>\n
The photos shared show the team\u2019s small plane parked on the harbor\u2019s ice. Another showed one of the Winter Study\u2019s lead researchers, Rolf Peterson, using an axe to chop a hole in the harbor for water. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe conditions on Isle Royale, like much of the Midwest, are bitterly cold and windy making it challenging to get everything open and underway.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Isle Royale wolf and moose study is now entering its 68th year. It is the world\u2019s longest-running predator-prey study and takes place on this remote island archipelago, about 60 miles from the Upper Peninsula\u2019s mainland.<\/p>\n
![\"Isle](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/GNXULDCZAZFRPMUBR4KYGTBQUQ.jpg\")
Rolf Peterson, a lead researcher in the Wolves and Moose of Isle Royale study team, breaks ice in Washington Harbor so the Winter Study team can access water.Photo courtesy of Michigan Technological University and the Wolves and Moose of Isle Royale research team<\/p>\n
This year\u2019s Winter Study is vitally important because the team\u2019s cold-weather research window has either been canceled or cut short for the last two years. In early 2025, the Winter Study had to be called off<\/a> because the team\u2019s plane was unexpectedly unavailable and there was not enough time to find an alternative. In 2024, unseasonably warm weather cut the Winter Study short.<\/p>\n That means the last good wolf\/moose estimates for Isle Royale are from 2024, which showed the island had become home to at least four territorial wolf packs.<\/a> One mega pack on the east side of the island had nearly half the island\u2019s estimated 30 wolves.<\/p>\n Researchers in 2024 noted that the wolf population had \u201cstabilized\u201d in the years since 2018, when the National Park Service began its plan to bring in new wolves to help balance the fast-rising moose population. At that time, the island\u2019s native wolf population had dwindled to just 2 inbred wolves.<\/a><\/p>\n As for the moose count, researchers in 2024 estimated there were 840 on Isle Royale – a nearly 60% drop compared to 2019, when the moose population hit a high of more than 2,000 and the big animals\u2019 overbrowsing on island trees was a big concern.<\/p>\n New wolf\/moose estimates based on the ongoing Winter Study are expected to be released this spring, once the scientists have had time to pore through the data and images captured during this trip. <\/p>\n The study also typically offers detailed information about the island\u2019s other wildlife, including its large beaver population and its foxes.<\/p>\n Any new wolf pup and wolf pack information will also be interesting to see. Isle Royale is open to hikers and day-trippers from spring through fall. While it\u2019s is one of the least-visited national parks, rangers there have stepped up their public information campaign about some bold wolf antics in the last couple of years. Wolves coming into the island\u2019s campsite areas and taking hikers\u2019 personal packs and other food items has been an issue.<\/p>\n![\"Isle](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/QSLNKEKZ6VBITBFVMB5G5CDFCI.jpg\")
A wolf walking on an Isle Royale trail. Photo provided by the National Park Service.NPS<\/p>\n