Climate warming and declining moose populations

Peter has a good article in this news letter titled "Keeping up with the climate".

https://www.msuextension.org/forestry/Resources/pdf/MFFnews/MFFNewsletterSpring2017.pdf

"Consensus science is not science."

https://science.house.gov/sites/rep...ents/HHRG-115-SY-WState-JChristy-20170329.pdf

BigHornRam said:

"Consensus science is not science."

https://science.house.gov/sites/rep...ents/HHRG-115-SY-WState-JChristy-20170329.pdf

Click to expand...

Be careful when you leave the 'root, you might fall off the flat earth...

BuzzH said:

Be careful when you leave the 'root, you might fall off the flat earth...

Click to expand...

We are having a good discussion here Buzz. If you are too simple to keep up, go somewhere else.

Climate warming is not all bad....at least in Alaska..there is good and bad aspects.

Good:
With more frequent wildfires there is more winter browse for moose and more extensive sharptail grouse habitat.
(and ultimately more ruffed grouse habitat.) 2004 was the largest fire year since the 1940s.
2005,2009,2015 were also record wildfire years (most wilderness wildfires are not fought in Alaska except for cabin protection).
Bad:
Dense smoke can make it very difficult to train for sheep hunting (building mileage in June/July with a pack for the August hunt).
Lichen are important for winter caribou forage and take decades to establish following wildfire.

Good:
In the 1990s my duck hunts ended in September as the marshes froze, now I hunt into mid-October.
Bad:
Warm falls make a delayed rutting behavior in moose and meat spoilage is more of a concern
relative to the cold falls in the 1990s.

Good:
In the 1990s, the first permanent snow was typically the first week of October and I would shift to cross-country skiing.
Now we have no or low snow typically until mid-November (Last fall, I trained retrievers last fall until Thanksgiving).
Low snow until late November should reduce wolf predation in Oct/Nov.
Bad:
However, now we get more winter rain and rain of snow events can impact Dall sheep and caribou winter feeding.

Good:
In 1992 we had a snow storm the first week of September that caused extensive power outage as the
trees still had their leaves and many fell over power lines. We no longer have that problem.
Bad:
Now we get more power outages in Nov-Feb as winter rain freezes on large spruce trees which fall on local power lines.
The houses across the ridge from our house had no power for ten days.

Good: Long-term we will have mule deer/elk migrating from the Yukon.
Bad: Potential decline in moose populations if ticks migrate with the mule deer.

Good: Nice warm springs and summers. Excellent gardening.
Bad: Thawing permafrost making for slower travel due to construction delays to fix the roads.

You sound like a glass half full kind of guy, AlaskaHunter. I like that.

Minnesota Moose Decline: Since 1985
Extreme wet cycle in Northern MN starting in 1993.
Calf mortality from wolves and bears proven with collared calves over 50%.
Less fires which reduced browse habitat and increased pests and disease. State wide effort by the DNR and local agencies to reduce burning.
Large Increase in ownership by DNR and The Nature Conservency land in prime habitat areas that is not burned, grazed, or has any agriculture whatsoever.
CRP land started enrollment in 1986.
Wolf population steadily increased. We have one of the highest wolf populations in North America per square mile in prime Moose habitat.
During these same years with the same increase in temperature the moose population has increased in North Dakota.