Everyone has a story about seeing one of Minnesota’s grandest animals or even seeing their tracks where you take your regular walk.
The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources has proposed adding Minnesota’s largest native mammal, the moose, to the state’s endangered species list, which includes 66 other species on decline.
It’s a good plan.
The moose would be listed as a species of special concern, instead of threatened or endangered. The plan would continue the once-in-a-lifetime moose hunts now offered in the state.
The DNR, and other agencies including Voyageurs National Park, have been studying moose populations for several years in an effort to better understand the dramatic decline in population. Moose seem to be a special species to most Minnesotans, who hope that the opportunity to hunt or even see a moose will continue for generations.
State protection efforts begin by listing an animal as a species of concern. Should the population decline further, it could then be changed to threatened or endangered.
Pockets of moose seem to regularly travel through or live in Borderland. Sightings have been reported, to the delight of most everyone, near the Falls International Airport and other places close to our community.
We urge the DNR, VNP and other agencies to continue their efforts to find out why numbers are in the decline as we provide some protection through the species of concern designation. These efforts could, we hope, eventually find a way to increase numbers so that the moose could be “delisted” in the future.
Examples of successful protections under special listings include the bald eagle and the wolf. Both have been taken off protection lists and the wolf population has so successfully recovered that we now offer hunting and trapping seasons.
We hope this small step in protecting the moose results in providing more information and data about the decline of this grand animal and the eventual rebound of its numbers.
