More will be known about how record warm winters — like that experienced this year — affect moose in Borderland as a result of an ongoing study.
Steve Windels, Voyageurs National Park terrestrial ecologist, said this week that the park is part of a project started in 2010 that considers moose habitat and behavior in relation to temperatures and weather-related events.
“I wish I could say more definitively, but we’re in the early stages of this project,” said Windels. “At the end of this year and beginning of next year we’ll be able to say some things.”
The leading hypothesis about why moose are only found north of a certain line in the United States, and what defines that line, is generally believed to be temperature related, he said. It’s why, even with the right habitat, moose are not present in places like Iowa.
Moose are designed for cold environments, with their large body size and dark colored hair that absorbs sunlight, he said.
“It’s not exactly clear if (temperature) is the only factor, or if there are other things going on for animals like moose,” he said.
Windels said, anecdotally, when temperatures warm, some moose seem to hunker down, restrict their movements and spend more time in heavy conifer cover.
“But we haven’t had the chance to analyze the data,” he said.
As a part of the project, park staff this winter replaced collars on four moose in the park and collars were placed on two moose new to the project.
The collars will help park biologists to track their movements.
“Eventually we want to be able to say what happens when temperatures get above a certain level — is there a change in behavior, do they spend more time in certain habitats, more time feeding, more time bedding, are they more nocturnal than diurnal?”
The park is collaborating with other agencies in northeastern Minnesota, with data collected to be shared, he said.
“The common goal is to figure out what are critical habitats that we need to think about restoration and management when thinking about moose persistence,” he said.
