LATEST NEWS

Moose Radio-Telemetry Progress Report - Feb 2009 Click Here

Moose Exclosure Report Winter 2009 Click Here

Moose Exclosure Protocol Proposal Click Here

Please check back for additional reports and updates.

 

 

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RESEARCH AREAS

Moose Exclosures
l Moose radio-telemetry

Over the past several decades moose have recolonized Massachusetts from expanding populations in northern New England into what, despite their historical presence, many biologists considered marginal moose habitat due to high temperatures, high human densities, and different forest types than “typical” moose range to the north. Despite this, the state moose population has grown and is apparently thriving.

The establishment of a growing and apparently viable moose population in Massachusetts also coincides with an increase in urban and suburban development.  Massachusetts has among the highest densities of people of any state in the country.  Although portions of the landscape are relatively undeveloped, and some are protected from development in the form of state forests, wildlife management areas, and other conservation areas, natural areas in Massachusetts are distributed in a more patchy arrangement than in most other portions of the moose’s geographic range in North America.

Beginning in the spring of 2006, the Massachusetts Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit, in conjunction with the Massachusetts Division of Fisheries and Wildlife,
began studying the movements and landscape pattern use of moose in Massachusetts, using global positioning system (GPS) equipped collars, to determine just how moose were adapting to this unique environment.

RESEARCH NEEDS
There is a need to understand the ecology of moose as they recolonize southern New England.  This need can be categorized into four major areas of interest: (1) ecological, including population dynamics and habitat relationships, (2) forest management and sustainability, (3) human interactions and dynamics and, (4) challenges to managing a large animal in a region with high human population densities and extensive development.