(WXYZ) — The Michigan Department of Natural Resources is asking for the public's help to conduct a community-based wolf survey in the Lower Peninsula.
According to the DNR, they are surveying to detect any potential presence of gray wolves.
It will take place from Feb. 17 through March 10, and the survey will rely on reports of public wolf sightings and other potential evidence.
“Our efforts will be concentrated in the northern Lower Peninsula which does contain some limited suitable habitat that could potentially support a small wolf population,” DNR large carnivore specialist Brian Roel said in a statement.
The public can report sightings, photos and other evidence of wolf presence at the DNR Eyes in the Field website. The reports will be reviewed and a reply will be sent.
Those who have wolf information to report but don't have access to a computer or smartphone can contact Tim Riley at the DNR's Grayling office at 989-370-7313 or RileyT6@michigan.gov.
DNR wildlife biologists said it is important that those making wolf reports do so in a timely manner to give biologists time to confirm fresh wolf signs. Track photos should include a ruler in the frame to show the track size.
Last year, the DNR said that the 2024 winter wolf population found a minimum of 762 wolves in the U.P., an increase of 131 from the 2022 estimate of 631. Officials estimated last year the population was distributed among 158 packs.
The DNR uses a sampling method to reduce the search area and allow additional time to county wolves, by using geographic stratification. That means they break up regions into small pieces to ensure they have representative samples, and then they get a minimum estimate during the winter, when wolves are at their lowest point in the yearly population cycle.
The DNR said last year it was planning a wolf survey for the Lower Peninsula in 2025.
Monitoring wolves in the northern Lower Peninsula is different because the wolves are at such low density, if present at all. They use a targeted search approach based on resident reports of wolves or wolf signs – like tracks or scat – to search areas that likely have wolves.
“By enlisting help from the public, we can exponentially increase the number of eyes out there looking for wolves,” Roell said. “With few records of wolves in the northern Lower Peninsula in modern times, efforts to find them will be challenging and there is the distinct possibility that they are not present at this time.”
The DNR said that wolves were removed from Michigan in the early part of the 20th century by habitat loss, bounties and prejudice. However, they began a gradual return to the U.P. in the early 1990s through Ontario and Wisconsin.
However, the Straits of Mackinac provide a significant barrier for wolves aiming to cross from the Upper Peninsula to a Lower Peninsula.
There are some observations of gray wolves in the Lower Peninsula. The first in recent times was in 2004 when a wolf was accidentally killed in Presque Isle County. Then, a gray wolf presence was identified through analysis of a scat sample in 2014.
Then, in 2024, a coyote hunter in Calhoun County harvested a large animal that was later confirmed to be a Gray wolf. That investigation is still ongoing, but the DNR does not suspect the animal was part of an established population in the southern Lower Peninsula.
The DNR said it last did a wolf survey in the Lower Peninsula in 2019. They received 97 reports, however, most were determined to be dog tracks, coyote tracks or were unable to be verified.
There were two reports from Kalkaska and Montmorency counties deemed credible, and DNR staffers continued monitoring the area.
