The 1,000-Mile Great Lakes Adventures

Saturday, July 24, 2021

Moosewatch 2021 Part 3

Loreen Niewenhuis is an author, adventurer, and dynamic speaker. 

She has completed a trilogy of 1,000-mile journeys exploring the Great Lakes and has authored three books about these adventures. 


To learn more about her work, or to engage her as a speaker, go to 

http://www.laketrek.com/great-lakes-speaker/



You don't have to hike far on Isle Royale before you come upon balsam fir trees that look like the photos below:






This tree is the primary food source for moose in the winter. As you can imagine, as the moose population expands, the competition for balsam branches increases.
A prolonged winter can also decrease the chances of a moose making it to spring.

On this year's Moosewatch, my team recovered bones from 8 moose, a few of which were showing signs of starvation.

Scientists have been studying the interaction of moose and wolves on Isle Royale for 63 years now. The most recent annual report can be found here.

And here's a sunset from Isle Royale.