State moving elk farther from wolvesThe Department of Natural Resources' wildlife policy team has approved a plan to move about a dozen elk from the Clam Lake herd to another area in the Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest in northern Wisconsin.
The plan, called "assisted dispersal," is designed to broaden the distribution of the Wisconsin herd, which mostly lives within a few miles of its original release site near Clam Lake, as well as to put some elk in an area with less wolf activity.
Although details have yet to be finalized, the plan calls for the DNR to trap 10 to 12 elk from the Clam Lake herd this winter and move the animals to a corral in a yet-to-be-identified site. The elk would be held until "green-up" in spring and then released.
The site would be within the previously determined Wisconsin elk range of northern Wisconsin. According to the plan, the relocation site would have excellent cover and food for elk; it would also be "between" wolf packs and, it is hoped, would allow the transferred elk to experience less wolf-related predation.
Wolves killed 11 of 25 elk lost from the Clam Lake herd last year and were the leading source of documented elk mortality, according to DNR reports. Wolves from two packs, the Ghost Lake and the Torch River packs, prey on the Clam Lake elk herd, said Laine Stowell, DNR elk biologist.
Although some believe the elk will eventually fall prey to wolves no matter where they are moved, Stowell has watched the wolf behavior near Clam Lake over the years and believes the plan will allow the transferred elk a "window of opportunity."
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