Dr. Seth Moore – Grand Portage Wildlife Biologist

Heavy snowfall near Lake Superior and the Boundary Waters region was the key topic in many conversations across the WTIP listening area to wrap up 2021.

Snowfall totals from Dec. 27 to Dec. 30 ranged from 18 inches to more than 20 inches for most of the area. The National Weather Service helped to keep WTIP listeners and the community informed about how the snow and weather was impacting travel and transportation.
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A study from the University of Minnesota College of Veterinary Medicine and the Grand Portage Band of Lake Superior Chippewa published this month in the journal Science Advances offers a new theory on the role of wolves in disease transmission among prey, including moose.

The research shows that nearly a quarter of collared moose that died in northeastern Minnesota over the past 15 years were infected with a brain worm parasite transmitted by white-tailed deer that is one of the biggest threats to adult moose mortality in Minnesota.
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Wildlife researchers in Grand Portage continue to analyze data related to calf mortality in the region’s moose population.

Among the ongoing studies is one connected to moose calf predation from black bears.

Seth Moore is the director of biology and environment for the Grand Portage Band of Lake Superior Chippewa. He said in a recent WTIP interview (audio below) that bears have been a significant predator on moose calves in research at Grand Portage.
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Dozens of bull moose in northeastern Minnesota will likely be harvested this year during a moose hunt by three Chippewa bands in northeastern Minnesota, according to local wildlife officials.

The Grand Portage Band of Lake Superior Chippewa and the Bois Forte Band of Chippewa will take a combined total of 20 bull moose across the approximately 5 million acres of 1854 Ceded Territory Lands of northeastern Minnesota, according to Seth Moore, director of biology and environmental services for the Grand Portage Band. Additional bull moose will also be harvested in 2021 by the Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa.
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What’s been called “the luckiest wolf in the world” continues to have an inspiring year roaming the North Shore from Grand Portage to Grand Marais.

WTIP received a call last winter from a Grand Portage area man who had a very interesting wolf encounter. Brian Neil, who frequently runs along scenic Highway 61, spotted a wolf in the woods in February just off the highway apparently in distress, possibly caught in a trap.
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Moose and wolves on Isle Royale generated a series of headlines across the country in 2018. The federal government announced in March 2018 that Isle Royale’s decimated wolf population will get an infusion of 20 to 30 new wolves over the next three years.

The National Park Service partnered with both state, federal and tribal agencies during the relocation process.
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When Lake Superior comes up in casual conversation, it’s easy to think big. After all, in terms of surface area, Lake Superior is the largest freshwater lake in the world.

However, one fisheries biologist who specializes in lake herring is keeping his focus on something small as he and others continue their research on why this particular fish population continues to decline in Lake Superior. Dan Yule directs his studies on the research vessel Kiyi for the U.S. Geological Survey. In June 2018, he was on Lake Superior waters near Grand Portage specifically to study young herring.

Working in conjunction with Dr. Seth Moore, the director of wildlife and biology for the Grand Portage Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, the researchers continue to study herring in the Big Lake, as WTIP’s Joe Friedrichs reports in this installment of the Lake Superior Project.

The federal government announced in March that Isle Royale’s decimated wolf population will get an infusion of new wolves over the next three years in an attempt to control the abundance of moose currently on the island.

This was a story reported on by media outlets on the North Shore of Lake Superior, to the Star Tribune in Minneapolis, and across the country, including stories in the New York Times.
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As first reported in September 2017 here on WTIP, a University of Minnesota professor set up a crowdfunding site to help research the parasite that’s devastating Minnesota’s moose population.

Dr. Tiffany Wolf from the University of Minnesota set up the crowdfunding site to see if the public had interest in supporting her efforts to study the decline of the state’s moose population. The parasite Wolf wanted more information on is called brainworm, and it typically breeds inside the brains of white-tailed deer. When the parasite passes to moose, Wolf said, it can be deadly.
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Dr. Seth Moore is the director of biology and environment with the Grand Portage Band of Lake Superior Chippewa. Dr. Tiffany Wolf is a wildlife epidemiologist with the University of Minnesota. They make up part of the team researching moose on the Grand Portage Reservation.

In this interview, WTIP’s Joe Friedrichs speaks with Moore and Wolf about the most recent work that involves studying moose on the Grand Portage Reservation.