The area selected for the release of the translocated wolves was the Huron Mountain area (Fig. 2) in northern Marquette County in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan (47° N Latitude; 88° W Longitude). This is one of the largest roadless tracts in Michigan, and has one of the lowest year-around densities of resident humans. Much of the area is owned by the Huron Mountain Club, on which accessibility is restricted.

[Fig. 2.—Range of the wolf in Upper Michigan in 1973, and the release point (from Hendrickson et al. 1975)]

The Upper Peninsula is 16,491 square miles (42,693 km²) in area, bounded by Lake Superior to the north, and by Lakes Huron and Michigan to the east and south. The Wisconsin border along the western portion of the Upper Peninsula forms no distinctive ecological boundary. The Upper Peninsula is in the Canadian biotic province (Dice 1952), characterized by a northern hardwoods climax, interspersed with spruce-fir and pine subclimaxes. The northwestern portion of the Upper Peninsula, including Marquette, Baraga, Houghton, Ontonagon, and Iron Counties, contains rugged highlands and rock outcroppings which rise to elevations approaching 2,000 feet (610 m) in several locations.

The human population of the Upper Peninsula is 303,342, with a rural density of about 9.0 persons per square mile or 3.5 persons per square kilometer (Table 1). The population of the Upper Peninsula has remained at about 300,000 for the past 50 years, and the rural human populations of local areas have generally declined or remained stable. During those 50 years, the wolf population has declined from several hundred animals to near extinction, with the population estimated by Hendrickson et al. (1975) at 6 to 10 remaining wolves. These authors concluded that the bounty on wolves between 1935 and 1960 was largely responsible for the demise of the species in the Upper Peninsula. The bounty was removed in 1960, after only one wolf was taken in 1959. Legal protection was granted by Michigan in 1965. The Endangered Species Act of 1973 added federal protection in 1974.

Table 1. Density of Rural Human Populations in Four Wolf Ranges in the Great Lakes Region

LocationArea in Square Miles (Square Kilometers)Percent Urban[3]Rural PopulationRural[4] Population Density Per Square Mile (Square Kilometer)
Ontario[5]412,582 3.3
(1,068,125)80.41,364,33(1.27)
Northern[6] Minnesota12,627 6.4
(32,690)68.081,246(2.5)
Upper Michigan[7]16,491 9.0
(42,693)51.4147,841(3.5)
Iron and Oneida Co.[8] Wisconsin1,859 12.3
(4,812)26.022,899(4.7)

[3] Towns or cities of more than 2,500 people

[4] Including towns with a population less than 2,500

[5] 1966 Census, 1970–71 Canada Yearbook