ALBANY, N.Y. — Moose die-offs in Minnesota and New Hampshire have led wildlife biologists in New York to launch a three-year study of moose in the Adirondack Mountains.
“The aim is to figure out how many moose we have, where they are, what kind of habitat they’re using and whether the population is stable, declining or growing,” said state wildlife biologist Ed Reed.
“We have a basic idea of the population, around 500 to 1,000, based on road kill, hunter reports and some aerial surveys,” Reed said. “But we don’t have enough of that for a sound estimate.”
Starting this winter, the Department of Environmental Conservation is contracting with the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry, the Wildlife Conservation Society and Cornell University to do an in-depth research project on Adirondack moose.
Aerial counts by helicopter will be conducted in January, when the dark animals stand out against the snow. Cornell will analyze DNA from moose scat to get information on diet and population genetics. And GPS satellite tracking collars will be used to follow four cows in real time on a computer screen, much like companies keep track of their truck fleets.
Reed said two young bull moose have radio collars, which are telemetry collars that require going out in the field with an antenna and receiver to track the animal down. “That’s very labor-intensive and expensive,” Reed said.
New York is on the southern edge of moose range. Its population was wiped out in the 1800s but has gradually grown from animals that wandered in from other northern states and Canada starting in around 1980. The state doesn’t allow moose hunting but solicits information from deer hunters who encounter moose in the field.
Minnesota has seen a 52 percent drop in its moose population since 2010, according to the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources. From a high of 8,840 in 2006, the population has dropped to an estimated 2,760. The decline prompted the state to close its moose hunting season in 2013 and 2014 and launch a $1.2 million seven-year research effort involving GPS collaring 110 moose.
One theory for the decline is that rising temperatures are stressing the animals and allowing parasites and diseases to have a greater effect on them, Reed said.
New Hampshire has seen its moose population drop from 7,000 animals to around 4,600. There, an increase in the winter tick population is suspected as a cause. The New Hampshire Fish and Game department blames the tick population explosion on warmer, shorter winters.
The Wildlife Management Institute, a nonprofit group established by hunters and conservation professionals concerned about wildlife population declines, said other states in the southern range of moose are also seeing declines. Only Maine, with an estimated 75,000 moose in the northern reaches of the state, has a growing population.
Paul Schuette, a post-doctoral researcher at SUNY ESF, is developing a systematic way to estimate the Adirondack moose population and trends through time.
“It’s a conservation success story that moose are recolonizing New York after a 100-year absence,” Schuette said. “At the same time, there’s concern because this is the southern edge of moose range. In Canada, moose are doing pretty well, but in the southern range, there’s more concern about how they’ll fare as winters become shorter and warmer.”
As part of the project, Schuette said researchers will develop a website and possibly a smartphone app this winter to disseminate moose information and encourage the public to report sightings and other observations.
“The DEC has records on moose sightings since 1980, the transportation department has data on vehicle collisions, and different groups have done research projects,” Schuette said. “There hasn’t been a comprehensive effort to bring all that information together. That’s something we’ll be working on.”
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