Reintroduction Programs

Michigan has had great success reintroducing two large mammals to the state. The eastern elk, once common in Michigan, had disappeared from the state by 1875. In 1918, state officials relocated seven Rocky Mountain elk to Cheboygan County in the northeastern Lower Peninsula. Today, nearly 900 Rocky Mountain elk roam the woods and meadows of a four-county area. The largest concentration lies within the Pigeon River Country State Forest [1] near Vanderbilt.

In the 1980s, moose were reintroduced to a remote area south of the U.P.’s Huron Mountains [2], where officials released a total of 59 moose from Ontario in two separate operations. Most interesting was the method of reintroduction: Wildlife biologists airlifted the moose one by one in a sling dangling beneath a helicopter to a base camp where they were trucked 600 miles to the Huron Mountains. Van Riper State Park near Michigamme has an interesting display with photos of the infamous “moose lifts.” It worked—today, about 500 roam the central U.P. [3]