Over the course of the past decade, scientists in New
Hampshire have observed suspicious amounts of moose dying off due to unknown
causes. For the past three years, new York's own scientists have been
conducting an investigation targeting our state's moose population to try and
find out why. There are currently estimated to be around 750 moose in the
Adirondacks, based on sightings, road kill counts, and hunter reports. The
basic idea of the survey and study is to find out how the population is
fairing, and whether it is growing or declining in size.
Starting
in the next few weeks, the Department of Environmental
Conservation will be working in partnership with the State University
of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry, the Wildlife
Conservation Society, and Cornell University to conduct this in
depth survey and study. In January, when the snow falls, an aerial count will
be taken since the animals stand out against the snow. In accordance, Cornell
will analyze DNA from moose droppings to learn about the Adirondack moose's
eating habits. And the DEC will conduct movement studies using GPS tracking
collars.
New York lies
on the southern boundary of where moose like to live. The population was wiped
out in the 1800's due to over-hunting, but has recently begun to reappear as
the animals have wandered in from surrounding states. Overall, this is a really
interesting conservation project on the behalf of several different
organizations and institutions, and I believe it will be extremely pertinent to
our class when the results are made available.
http://snowyinn.com/ILMooseSign.jpg
http://www.timesunion.com/news/article/A-checkup-for-an-Adirondacks-icon-5926394.php
This is very worrisome! As the Moose has just come back, we need to do everything we can to ensure it thrives. To me, 750 sounds like a precariously low number to start with. I hope they are able to figure out that is going on in New Hampshire, though even if they do it is possible they will have little power to solve the problem. It always amazes me is how interconnected the plants and animals are to each other, and the Moose could be reacting to, and dying from, many possible changes in their habitat. I too am very interested to hear what the findings are of this study.
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