Michigan researchers continue investigation of moose survival in the Upper Peninsula

It’s an unusually warm late-winter day in the western Upper Peninsula as a collaborative team of wildlife experts works to fit a radio collar around the neck of an immobilized moose and collect blood and fecal samples from the animal.

Speed and skill are crucial.

Too much stress or time under anesthesia puts the 700-pound bull at risk.

A separate helicopter crew from Texas-based Heliwild had flushed the moose from the Iron County woods and shot it with a tranquilizer dart, a necessary but taxing procedure for the majestic creature.

DNR Wildlife Biologist Kristi Sitar performs moose bloodwork seated at a table.

The ground team finishes its work, injects the moose with a drug that reverses sedation and backs away. After a few anxious minutes, the massive animal awakens, rises unsteadily, and ambles into the thick woods.

The entire process takes less than 45 minutes.

“Great job everyone,” says Sitar, a veteran wildlife biologist with the Michigan DNR, as the crew exchanges high-fives.

This procedure was repeated several dozen times in mid-February as some 40 people from the DNR, Keweenaw Bay Indian Community, Northern Michigan University and Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians participated in an ongoing research project investigating moose survival in the Upper Peninsula.

Over four days, the collaborative group accomplished its goal of collaring 41 moose and re-collaring two moose from a smaller effort last year. In all, 56 collared moose in the western U.P. are now providing researchers with valuable information on their health and movements.

“This was a successful capture event, and the entire team worked together incredibly well to reach our goal,” said Tyler Petroelje, northern Michigan wildlife research specialist for the DNR. “These moose, and the biological samples and collar data they provide, will be invaluable in helping us better understand survival and factors that are limiting population growth in the core moose herd.”

Data from the captures is providing insights into why the moose population in the core range of Baraga, Iron and Marquette counties has stagnated at about 300 animals, according to the DNR’s 2025 aerial survey.

Getting enough moose collared in 2025 and 2026 was an important step in the long-term research project. Now, researchers from the DNR, KBIC and NMU are working together to interpret tracking data from the collars, along with corresponding drone surveys, to come up with evidence-based reasons for the stagnant moose population.

In less than three weeks, researchers collected 22,000 GPS locations from the newly collared moose. That’s in addition to the more than 200,000 GPS locations collected from the moose collared in 2025.

Project funding comes mostly from federal grants, tribal partnerships and university resources, with only about 1% coming from state hunting and fishing license fees.

Providing additional financial and land-access support are conservation groups, including the Nature Conservancy and Safari Club International Michigan Involvement Committee, federal land managers and commercial forest landowners.

The KBIC recently secured a $684,112 grant from the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs to support the project and KBIC staff salaries for two more years, expanding research capacity through 2028.

Erin Johnston, KBIC’s wildlife and habitat manager, played a key role in securing the grant and in the capture operation, assisting on two moose captures as part of an aerial team.

“Similar to last year, staff from DNR, KBIC and NMU seamlessly integrated into aerial and ground teams for another successful moose capture-and-collar event,” Johnston said. “Ground teams had more opportunity to handle moose this year. Although the warm temperatures caused delays in the aircraft flying in the morning, the sunshine was a welcome sight and sensation while we waited in anticipation to hear news from handling teams of successful capture, collar and release.”

Kyle Seppanen, wildlife coordinator for the KBIC, served on a snowmobile-riding ground team nicknamed “Hemlock Nibbler” along with Jeff Lukowski of the DNR and Eric Clark of the Sault Tribe. That team assisted Sitar and fellow DNR wildlife biologist Clay Buchanan with successfully collaring the 700-pound bull in Iron County.

“It will be exciting to see what additional information we can gather now that we have 56 collared moose on the landscape,” said Seppanen, who assisted on seven captures. “Where are the moose going? What habitats are they using and when? As one of two drone operators on the project, I am looking forward to confirming births this spring and tracking calf survival throughout the remainder of the year.”

The project nerve center was a base operation run out of Van Riper State Park near Champion by Erin Largent, a DNR wildlife research technician and master’s degree student at NMU.

Largent was instrumental in just about every aspect of the initiative – from contacting landowners across the study area to secure permissions to access moose on private lands, to ordering all capture equipment and programming the GPS collars, to organizing snowmobiles, spotter planes and the helicopter moose-darting team. At Van Riper, the base operations team – Largent, DNR wildlife technician Rachel Leggett and NMU master’s degree student Anthony Clyne – coordinated all airplane, helicopter and ground crews using real-time location data and sophisticated mapping software.

Another NMU student and DNR student assistant, Jackie Westra, served on a snowmobile ground crew and helped prepare blood, fecal, hair and tick samples for analysis.

“This large-scale moose research and conservation initiative is providing exceptional hands-on learning opportunities for NMU students,” said Diana Lafferty, associate professor of wildlife ecology at NMU and member of the capture team. “In short, our undergraduate and graduate students are not just learning and applying their academic and professional skills, they are also important members of our team and contribute in many meaningful ways to the success of this project.”

Andy Henion works for DNR’s Wildlife Division.