Panel tells DNR moose hunting should be allowed

Brian Peterson, Star Tribune

A young bull moose grazed in a swamp off the Gunflint Trail in northeastern Minnesota. Moose should be identified as a “species of special concern,” the committee told the Minnesota DNR.

It also acknowledged long-term threat of climate change.

By BOB VON STERNBERG, Star Tribune

Last update: August 18, 2009 - 7:47 PM

Minnesota's moose may be in trouble, but they can still be hunted.

Despite fears that the population is crashing, a special committee reporting to the Department of Natural Resources recommended Tuesday that the population will hold its own "for the foreseeable future."

And despite the threat to the species posed by what the committee called "the long-term threat" of climate change, it recommended that moose hunting continue in the northeastern part of the state.

The committee was formed, in part, because moose numbers have declined dramatically in northwestern Minnesota during the past two decades and appear to be dropping in northeast Minnesota.

Earlier this year, the DNR reported that the 2008 survey of the animals found a statewide population of about 7,600 animals.

While that's little changed from a year earlier, several secondary factors point to a continued overall decline in the number of moose the agency reported.

That decline can be traced to low calf survival rates, a decline in hunter kills and a rise in natural mortality.

Regarding a continued moose hunt, the committee recommended that harvest and population data must be monitored in order to know when banning it would be necessary.

In addition, white-tailed deer should be managed at low densities in the northeastern moose range to reduce the deer's parasite-related effects on moose.

According to the committee, white-tailed deer at a density of fewer than 10 per square mile "would reduce the potential for parasite-mediated impacts on moose."

Committee chairman Rolf Peterson said committee members recognize climate change as a clear long-term threat to moose in Minnesota but weren't able to quantify the extent of the threat during the next half-century.

Committee members did recommend listing moose as a state-designated threatened or endangered species. But a majority of committee members who voted believe the moose should be identified as a "species of special concern."

That, according to the committee, is "a designation that would more accurately reflect the animal's vulnerable status. This designation is advisory and conveys no additional legal status."

The report isn't binding on department officials, but they will review it as they draft a new state moose management plan.

Bob von Sternberg • 612-673-7184