Wolf Research Project






















Introduction

The wolf research project in the Réserve Faunique des Laurentides was a governmental project initiated by the Ministère de l'Environnement et de la Faune du Québec (MEF, the provincial authority for environment and wildlife management). Its aim was to evaluate and study the wolf population in the reserve and the surrounding parks (an area of about 8,500 km² with around 2,000 lakes).

The project was financed mostly by the MEF, but the Société des Etablissement de Plein Air du Québec (Québec's Park and Games), the Mikin (a small ecotourism company) and the Association des Trappeurs de la Réserve Faunique des Laurentides (trappers association) also provided support (infrastructure, funds, in-kind, etc).

The MEF and the SEPAQ were interested in setting a management plan for the wolf population of the reserve and understanding the effect of wolves on potential preys (caribous in particular). The Mikin wanted to support research on the effects of "ecotourism howling stimulation" on wolves, which had received very little attention in the scientific literature. Finally, the trappers were interested in a management plan for the wolf population (a fur animal).

Environment

The "Parc des Grands-Jardins" is a boreal forest. By far the dominant tree species are the black and white (Canadian) spruce, and the northern part of the park and the conservation sector are covered with taiga, which actually gave the park its name (Grands-Jardins means big garden, in reference to the carpets of lichen). There were two forest fires in 1991, one caused by a camper, the other one by lightning, and a large proportion of the park is covered by dead trees, remnants of the burned forest. This is however a very rich environment, for it is where a lot of small fruits grow throughout the summer (especially blueberries).

The Pack

The pack consisted of 6 adult individuals and an unknown number of pups (4 or 5). The alpha female of the pack was nicknamed Eole, as a reference to the mythological god of the winds, for her stealthy (and untrackable!) wanderings. The alpha male we named Jean-Benoit. Then came Danny, the third biggest wolf of the entire reserve with 115 lbs. There were two yearlings, a female named Butley and a male named Desnos. Finally, there was Balzac, a 3-4 years old male. It seemed he had joined the pack only recently, for he had never been spotted with the other wolves during the previous winter.

Objectives of the Project

The research project started in April 1996. At the beginning, next to nothing was known about the wolves living in the reserve. By the end of 1997, three (possibly four) den sites have been located and seven different packs identified. During the summer of 97, we focused on two packs : the Malbaie pack and the Parc des Grands-Jardins (PGJ) pack. We had four main objectives:
1. Study the territory of each pack.
2. Study their diet.
3. Study the effect of stimulation.
4. Monitor the time spent by each individual at the den and rendezvous sites.

Study of the territory of each pack

The wolves were trapped using modified traps (so as not to hurt them). Then we had to do several manipulations before we would release them: we would measure several morphological traits (canine length, hind leg, height, weight, thorax circumference etc.), take blood samples, tag their ears with MEF tags and finally collar them. Once all this was done, the wolf was released. The manipulations were done in the shortest possible time and with the less possible noise so as to minimize stress levels (the wolves were not anaesthetized).

Once the wolves were radiocollared, we had two means at our disposal to study their movements : ground-based telemetry and/or aerial telemetry and visual reckon. The former was our preferred option, because of its low cost compared to aerial telemetry. The SEPAQ maintains several roads in the reserve, either for logging or for tourism (access to fishing lakes). These roads allowed us to go nearly everywhere in the reserve by truck. We had mounted directional antennas on these trucks, with which we could triangulate the location of radiocollared individuals. If the roads were too bad, we also had several ATVs which could go nearly anywhere, or we could walk. The problem with the ATVs or walking was that we had to use hand-held antennas which had a lesser range than those mounted on the trucks, but we were still able to locate the wolves if they were in a 2-3 km radius around us. We tried to get a "lock" every half hour, which meant moving quickly to take three headings at three different spots (radio-triangulation). Usually, we had a pretty good estimate of the location of the wolf (about 50m²).

Study of the wolves' diet

To study the diet of the wolves, we collected huge amounts of scats (3,000 - 4,000 in total!!!). In the Parc des Grands-Jardins, the main prey was by far beaver, and caribou consisted only of 0.8% vol.

This is important in the context of caribou re-introduction in the PGJ. Since 1969, there is a program for the re-introduction of caribous. This program is however not very successful, with an increase of only 3 - 5 % per year. The current estimated caribou population is about 150 individuals. The semi-failure of the re-introduction program has been attributed to high predation of wolves on the caribou herds. The analysis of the wolves diet however suggests this hypothesis is incorrect.

Study the effect of stimulations

It was very important to study the effect of stimulations on wolves since many ecotourism companies are stimulating without knowing the effect these might have on wolves. So we set out to study the effect of such stimulations. We also used coyote and wolf stimulations to see if maybe the coyote stimulation was less disturbing ...

We would stimulate about 15 - 20 minutes after a wolf had left the RDV site. The idea was that if the wolf came back, that meant that the stimulation had disturbed the wolf. On the other hand, but continued on its way, then we assumed that it had not disturbed him enough to cause a change in behaviour.
The data has not yet been statistically analyzed. However, there seemed to be less disturbance with the coyote howls, but also less response. But again, this may just be an impression ... the statistical analysis of the data will tell us if it is really the case.

Monitoring the time spent at the den and/or rendezvous site

To monitor the time spent by each individual wolf at the den or rendezvous site, we set up some Constant Monitoring Stations (CMS) close to the site of interest. These CMS were small towers with a directional antenna (directed at the site), a receiver with a scan capability (e.g. LOTEK), a printer that would print the output of the receiver, and a power supply mechanism. The receiver scanned trough every collar frequency in half an hour, which means that we could tell whether a wolf was present or absent for each half-hour of the day.
There was no consistent pattern for each wolf, that is there wasn't a specific time of the day at which a wolf left or came back, but there were very significant differences between different individuals (probably related to character, age, status etc ...), with some individuals spending as much as 70% of her time at the den while others would spend only 20-30%. The data collected had not been statistically analyzed by the end of my project. From the beginning to the end of the summer, there seemed to be a decrease in time spent at the den or rendezvous site by the adults. This seems logical too, since the pups are getting more and more independent.

What did we achieve during summer 1997?

First of all, we became familiar with the park and its roads. That means that we now have maps with adequate stations, we know the path the wolves take to get to one area, and also very important, we have made contact with the people who work there during the summer time. This may seem unimportant, but it was critical for the study to insure their support, not only because we needed their cooperation (e.g. "a tourist has seen a wolf there"), but also because they could be very helpful in case of a problem (I am forever endebted to Jocelyn Lajoie for his help in digging my truck out at 3 o'clock in the morning in pouring rain).

As previously stated, we collected huge amounts of scats, which should help to determine the diet of each pack. Using DNA data, we will also be able to determine the diet of each individual wolf. We also located the den of a new pack, which will help us to set the CMS a lot faster next year.

Want to know more?

You can of course contact me, and I will do my best to help. You can also contact Sophie Czetwertynski at Acadia University (Nova Scotia, Canada) or Rolland Lemieux at Mikin (Québec, Canada).