Moose Needs in Adirondacks and Northern Appalachians (Provided photos —Larry Master)
As the first large-scale experiment in rewilding, the Adirondack Park has been remarkably successful. Many species nearly extirpated a century ago - including river otter, fisher, bobcat, black bear, beaver, common loon (Adirondack Council’s logo animal), bald eagle, and peregrine falcon -have rebounded wonderfully. Most of this wildlife recovery has been through natural recolonization, after killing was limited and some habitat allowed to regrow; and the latest of the charismatic animals to return has been the Moose, Alces alces, largest surviving member of the Deer family.
A Raven’s Eye Perspective on Moose in Our Region
As a recent article in New York Department of Environmental Conservation magazine The Conservationist by biologist David Kaplan explains, moose are slowly expanding in numbers across northern New York, perhaps numbering about 700 in the Adirondack Park. The long-term prospects for moose here are unsure, however, for this massive browser is a boreal species. Moose don’t like hot weather. A warming climate will tend to favor a smaller deer family member, white-tail deer, over moose. As seen in Maine where their numbers have fallen lately, moose are highly susceptible to moose ticks, also called winter ticks. Paradoxically, where moose are densely populated due to abundant early succession forest and lack of top predators, moose are succumbing to cold in winter, after rubbing off their coats from agitation by ticks. Moose are also susceptible to liver flukes and brainworm, both parasites carried by white-tail deer and passed to moose when the larger ungulates browse plants near deer scat. High deer numbers, then, may pose a challenge to long-term moose prosperity - another reason why top carnivores are needed in Northern Forests. Moose becoming road-kill is already a major problem for moose in parts of the US Northeast and southeast Canada. A sizable fraction of moose mortality in northern New York each year is from being hit by motor vehicles while trying to cross roads. Safe wildlife crossings as well as lower - and enforced - speed limits at night could help lessen this ongoing roadkill tragedy. Road-kill, by the way, is a tragedy for both wildlife and people. Added to the billions 10
of animals killed on roads every year, about 200 humans in the US die every year from collisions between the vehicles they are driving and ungulates trying to cross roads. Regional, and even continental, habitat connectivity becomes ever more important as climate warms and human numbers grow. For wide-ranging species like moose, dispersal events are important for maintaining genetic diversity and allowing demographic rescue. Moose are quite tolerant of human presence, but they are most likely to thrive and roam freely where extensive natural habitats of forest and wetland persist. Being a well-connected and diverse landscape including boreal habitats, the Adirondack Park is the last best chance for New York to retain a mega-herbivore. Assuring a future for moose here means stabilizing climate; continuing to fully protect the Forest Preserve (which provides the secure habitat wide-ranging species need); encouraging ecologically sustainable forestry on large private lands (which can emulate natural disturbances like wind-throw Continued on page 11
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