White,
I don't disagree with any of that. There are certainly a multitude of variables influencing everything in natural invironments, and plenty of interesting things to be learned from continued research.

But at some point when trying to manage a resource (not just continuous studying) such a moose on mainland MN, it would seem to make sense to address the most obvious factor, especially when the multitude of other variables are not controllable.

For sure they should be managed. But in the recent past here we have had some pretty high wolf populations and we THOUGHT the decline in the moose was due to the wolves.
Of course to some degree it was and is. But statistically the greater damage was being done by bears whacking calves immediately after they hit the ground.

Of course "harvest" by man is just additive to that of wolves and bears. Unfortunately the bears don't know how much the other predator groups harvest. So it falls to us to control what we are able......both physically and legally.

The studies aren't seeing the big picture either, and they know it. The problem is funding. They're paid to study moose & wolf, not beaver, trees, climate, parasites and microorganisms........but in the end they all come into play and effect the results of their studies. They really need more biologists to team up with, but no money.
Oh well, studying 70 years and finding out that the more you know, the more you realize you don't know is better than nothing.....lol

Isle Royale NP has been an ongoing experiment for a long time. Cool place.


It's basically a biosphere. They have pulled some strings and played god and helped things along (like adding wolves a while back after the inbreeding and over population cycles got extreme)

Like another person said, fox were the campsite raiders when I was there years ago. I camped at all 3 of the sites they listed as having wolf issues, they're the 3 closest to the main dock at Rock Harbor.

Here they blamed deep snow on our moose decline in the 90's. Well until I got the snow depth records from NOAA in North Carolina and it said the 90's was the lowest snow depth decade on record.

You got watch them biopoliticians.

Good term Dirt !!

Gulo often remarked about how unproductive ( a charitable term) it was to have biologists who didn't like biology, or were not good at it...............be promoted to administrative positions .........calling the shots on the people who were truly interested in biology

It was Wayne Reglan that had a Chapter on biopolitics in the Moose ( or Ungulate ) bible I read.

This one:

Ecology and management of the North American moose
1997
Franzmann, Albert W. | Schwartz, Charles C.

"The most comprehensive book ever published on the North American moose, this abundantly illustrated volume fully explains moose biology and ecology and assesses the increasingly complex enterprise of managing the species. Twenty-one wildlife biologists and researchers discuss moose taxonomy, reproduction and growth, feeding habits, behavior, population dynamics, relationships with predators, incidental mortality, and seasonal

Contributors include Warren B. Ballard, Arnold H. Boer, Anthony B. Bubenik, M. E. Buss, Kenneth N. Child, Vincent F.J. Crichton, Albert W. Franzmann, Kris J. Hundertmark, Patrick D. Karns, Murray W. Lankester, Richard E. McCabe, James M. Peek, Henry M. Reeves, Wayne L. Regelin, Lyle A. Renecker, William M. Samuel, Charles C. Schwartz, Robert W. Stewart, Ian D. Thompson, H. R. Timmermann, and Victor Van Ballenberghe. A Wildlife Management Institute

Spelled it wrong.

I hadn't heard the term before, but it accurately describes those in MNDNR willing to go to the metro for those admin positions.

I suspect it has become fairly universal. The Peter Principle in action.

And it's self perpetuating by only hiring people with college degrees. The St. Louis Zoo requires a degree to be hired as a pooper scooper for the animals.

I've watched research people move into biopolitical positions. Most don't seem to like it. However, only way to move up. IMHO researchers sometimes lose the understanding that ADFG is a wildlife management agency, not a research facility. Research that has management value should be prioritized.