Midwest
Wolf population on remote island on Lake Superior remain stable while moose numbers decline
Researchers forced to cut short an annual survey of wildlife on a remote Lake Superior island this winter due to unusually warm weather announced Tuesday that they managed to gather data that shows the wolf population is stable.
Isle Royale is a 134,000-acre island situated in far western Lake Superior between Grand Marais, Minnesota, and Thunder Bay, Canada. The park is a wildlife biologist’s dream, offering a rare opportunity to observe wolves and moose acting naturally without human influence.
Scientists have conducted an annual survey of the island’s wolves and moose since 1958. It’s been going on every year except for 2021, when the pandemic forced researchers to cancel.
RARE GRAY WOLF KILLED DURING HUNT IN MICHIGAN, OFFICIALS LAUNCH INVESTIGATION
Researchers typically conduct aerial surveys of the island to develop population estimates and observe animal behavior. The island doesn’t have a landing strip so the scientists use skiplanes that can land on the ice surrounding it.
A wildlife survey on a remote Lake Superior island shows that the wolf population is stable, but the moose have declined nearly 60% in the last 4 years. Photographed: National Park Service photographed a 4-year-old female gray wolf emerging from her cage as she is released at Isle Royale National Park in Michigan. (National Park Service via AP, File)
A team led by Michigan Tech University researchers was two weeks into this year’s seven-week survey in January when unusually warm temperatures left the ice around the island unsafe for their planes to land. They were forced to evacuate the island and could not return.
Data the team gathered before they left shows the wolf population stands at 30 animals, down from 31 animals last year but up from 28 in the winter of 2022. The scientists said they believe the wolves have divided themselves into four packs, with one pack numbering at least 13 wolves. At least one wolf appeared to be living alone.
The moose population, meanwhile, stood at 840, down 14% from last year. Overall, the moose population has declined by almost 60% since 2019, when the population peaked at a little more than 2,000 animals.
In past years, most moose died from starvation, the scientists said. Moose can eat up to 40 pounds of vegetation daily and with low wolf numbers, the population grew unchecked and the creatures ate themselves out of food. But this year’s decline is likely linked to wolf predation, they said.
And fewer moose are having calves, the team said. Less than 6% of the moose the researchers observed this winter were calves. That’s higher than last year’s estimate of 2%, but still far below the long-term average of 13%.
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A stretch of Interstate 94 in Minneapolis has reopened after a fatal crash closed it for hours Wednesday morning.
The Minnesota State Patrol said the crash occurred on westbound I-94 near Interstate 35W around 2:30 a.m. The patrol said the crash was fatal, but did not say how many people or vehicles were involved.
The Minnesota Department of Transportation said the road was cleared just before 6:15 a.m., and a WCCO crew at the scene saw traffic moving through.
This story will be updated.
SPEEDWAY, Ind. — Checkout time came early Tuesday night for Drake Edwards at The Dirt Track at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
Edwards drove from the fourth starting spot to the lead on lap 7 and never trailed thereafter to win the 30-lap Stoops Star Spangled Showdown feature in his No. 40D Chase McDermand Racing/GR8 Company – Rexroad Racing/Spike/Speedway Toyota machine.
It was the second career USAC NOS Energy Drink Midget National Championship victory for Edwards, from Peoria, Arizona.
“It’s pretty surreal,” Edwards said. “Very cool to be standing here. I knew there was a shot coming to the smaller tracks, but I felt pretty solid all night long. So, I think it’s really cool.”
Kevin Thomas Jr. finished a distant second in the No. 14 4 Kings Racing car on the 1/5-mile dirt oval, followed by pole sitter Gavin Miller in the No. 97 Keith Kunz-Curb-Agajanian Motorsports entry. Zach Wigal was fourth in the No. 1 Pat O’Dell car, with BC39 rookie Jake Swanson rounding out the top five in the No. 14K 4 Kings Racing entry.
The 30-lap feature was the climax of the opening night of the two-night BC39 Presented by Avanti Windows & Doors, which will culminate in a 39-lap feature paying $20,039 to win Wednesday night on the track inside turn three of the storied IMS asphalt oval.
There were only two suspenseful moments for Edwards, 23, the 2024 USAC Western States Midget Rookie of the Year.
The first came on lap six when Edwards, charging toward the front, drove into the rear of teammate Briggs Danner in the No. 40x Chase McDermand Racing car in a duel for second place behind Miller. Edwards continued, but Danner spun and triggered a caution period.
“First and foremost, I want to apologize to Briggs,” Edwards said.
On the lap-seven restart, Edwards drove under Miller in turns three and four to take a lead he never surrendered despite multiple caution periods.
Edwards stretched the lead to 4.2 seconds over Thomas – a huge gap on a short track – by lap 22 as he could place his car on any spot of the dirt oval and find speed almost at will.
“I was just watching him up there,” Thomas said of Edwards. “Honestly, I was enjoying the show. I know he’s pretty talented, but I was like, ‘There ain’t no way he makes 30 laps without a crash.’ It’s pretty remarkable, and they had a great race car. He did a phenomenal job.”
Leading by approximately four seconds, Edwards rocketed around thick lapped traffic on the high line of the oval in the last 10 laps. But Thomas’ prediction of possible calamity for Edwards almost came true with three laps to go in the second dramatic moment on his drive to victory lane.
Edwards approached a lapped car that changed lines in turn three and four, and he had to slow quickly to avoid a collision. But Edwards safely avoided that near-miss and cruised to the victory in a car owned by McDermand, who picked up his only career USAC National Midget win during a 2024 BC39 preliminary feature, but cruelly lost a BC39 championship night victory with less than two laps remaining that same weekend when his car got hung up in ruts in turn four while leading.
“I didn’t know where to go half the time,” Edwards said. “But luckily, we made it through there pretty good, and I felt like I got through them all right.”
Edwards took over the lead from Miller with a turn three slider on lap seven, and it was all Edwards from there as he led the final 24 circuits of the 30-lap feature to earn the K & N Filters Clean Air award.
It’s been quite some time since you could last call Jake Swanson a Rookie. But tonight, in his first career BC39 appearance, he raced to a superb fifth-place result.
USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget Championship, The Dirt Track at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Speedway, Indiana, June 30, 2026
K1 RACEGEAR FIRST HEAT: (8 laps, passing points, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Kevin Thomas Jr. (#14 4 Kings) (3), 2. Drake Edwards (#40D McDermand) (6), 3. Ethan Mitchell (#19m Bundy Built) (1), 4. Kaylee Bryson (#11 Abacus) (5), 5. Alex Midkiff (#05 Midkiff) (4), 6. Joel Myers Jr. (#19H Hayward) (7), 7. Adam Taylor (#7T ATM) (2). NT
TJ FORGED SECOND HEAT: (8 laps, passing points, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Jacob Denney (#67 Kunz/Curb-Agajanian) (1), 2. Justin Grant (#87 CBI) (6), 3. Hayden Reinbold (#19AZ Reinbold-Underwood) (7), 4. Logan Julien (#3N O’Dell) (4), 5. Alex Sewell (#32A Tessier) (5), 6. Jake Robinson (#5u Trifecta) (2), 7. Devon Dobie (#23 Dobie) (3), 8. Austin Wood (#27 Horn) (8).
K & N FILTERS THIRD HEAT: (8 laps, passing points, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Kale Drake (#4 RMS) (2), 2. Gavin Miller (#97 Kunz/Curb-Agajanian) (8), 3. Brecken Reese (#20Q Reese) (1), 4. Drew Sherman (#19 Reinbold-Underwood) (3), 5. Frank Flud (#81F Rosenboom) (5), 6. Jeffrey Abbey (#8B Miller) (6), 7. Cameron Hagin (#33 RayPro) (4), 8. Jason Tessier (#32J Tessier) (7). 1:42.351
INDY POWERSPORTS FOURTH HEAT: (8 laps, passing points, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Bradley Cox (#45 Mason) (3), 2. Briggs Danner (#40x McDermand) (7), 3. Wesley Smith (#5p Rossi-Petty) (1), 4. Adyn Schmidt (#19x Cox) (5), 5. Gunnar Setser (#43 Arnold) (8), 6. Karter Sarff (#7u Trifecta) (4), 7. Brandon Carr (#98K Kunz/Curb-Agajanian) (6), 8. Matt Lux (#5L Lunsford-Lux) (2). 1:43.029
K1 RACEGEAR FIFTH HEAT: (8 laps, passing points, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Steven Snyder Jr. (#89 CBI) (2), 2. Jake Swanson (#14K 4 Kings) (5), 3. J.J. Yeley (#3J Rossi-Petty) (3), 4. Colton Robinson (#67K Kunz/Curb-Agajanian) (6), 5. Jonathan Beason (#36 Rosenboom) (8), 6. Josh Hodge (#35 Hodge) (7), 7. Tyler Watkins (#7w Watkins) (1), 8. Mack Leopard (#40L McDermand) (4). 1:44.058
TJ FORGED SIXTH HEAT: (8 laps, passing points, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Cannon McIntosh (#71K Kunz/Curb-Agajanian) (1), 2. Ricky Thornton Jr. (#1R Rossi-Petty) (8), 3. Kade Taylor (#T21 Mounce-Stout) (2), 4. Daison Pursley (#86 CBI) (6), 5. Cody Weisensel (#20w Burrington) (7), 6. Eric Heydenreich (#32 OMR-Rase) (5), 7. Christian Miller (#8XL Miller) (4), 8. Robert Carson (#99K Carson) (3).
K & N FILTERS SEVENTH HEAT: (8 laps, passing points, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Cale Coons (#63 Dooling/Curb-Agajanian) (2), 2. Jakeb Boxell (#54 4 Kings) (3), 3. Kyle Cummins (#3G Styres) (6), 4. Logan Seavey (#57 Abacus) (8), 5. Rylan Gray (#22H Gray) (7), 6. Riley Kreisel (#19K Cox) (5), 7. Cooper Miller (#8L Miller) (4), 8. Kyle Jones (#7TX Engler) (1). 1:44.150
INDY POWERSPORTS EIGHTH HEAT: (8 laps, passing points, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Justin Peck (#3p Rossi-Petty) (2), 2. Zach Wigal (#1 O’Dell) (6), 3. Zach Daum (#5D Taylor) (5), 4. Wout Hoffmans (#14J Rosenboom) (3), 5. Dodge Carlbert (#1m Montgomery) (4), 6. Cord Kisthardt (#21K Kisthardt) (7), 7. Chris Hartman (#35s Hodge) (1). 1:46.835
C MAIN: (10 laps, top 4 transfer to the semis, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Brandon Carr (1), 2. Cooper Miller (4), 3. Mack Leopard (9), 4. Kyle Jones (11), 5. Adam Taylor (5), 6. Cameron Hagin (2), 7. Christian Miller (3), 8. Tyler Watkins (7), 9. Jason Tessier (6), 10. Chris Hartman (8), 11. Matt Lux (10), 12 Austin Wood (12). 2:10.762
FIRST FIVE STAR BODIES SEMI: (12 laps, top 4 transfer to the feature, starting positions in parentheses) 1. J.J. Yeley (5), 2. Kyle Cummins (1), 3. Gunnar Setser (4), 4. Kaylee Bryson (6), 5. Drew Sherman (10), 6. Colton Robinson (3), 7. Karter Sarff (16), 8. Brandon Carr (17), 9. Wesley Smith (8), 10. Alex Sewell (11), 11. Joel Myers Jr. (13), 12. Alex Midkiff (12), 13. Mack Leopard (18), 14. Rylan Gray (9), 15. Ethan Mitchell (7), 16. Eric Heydenreich (15), 17. Cord Kisthardt (14), 18. Jakeb Boxell (2).
SECOND FIVE STAR BODIES SEMI: (12 laps, top 4 transfer to the feature, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Zach Daum (2), 2. Jonathan Beason (4), 3. Logan Seavey (1), 4. Brecken Reese (7), 5. Daison Pursley (3), 6. Wout Hoffmans (10), 7. Adyn Schmidt (6), 8. Frank Flud (11), 9. Riley Kreisel (15), 10. Kyle Jones (18), 11. Cody Weisensel (8), 12. Logan Julien (9), 13. Dodge Carlbert (12), 14. Kade Taylor (5), 15. Cooper Miller (17), 16. Jeffrey Abbey (14), 17. Josh Hodge (13), 18. Jake Robinson (16).
FEATURE: (30 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Drake Edwards (4), 2. Kevin Thomas Jr. (7), 3. Gavin Miller (1), 4. Zach Wigal (6), 5. Jake Swanson (9), 6. Justin Peck (14), 7. Hayden Reinbold (10), 8. Cannon McIntosh (16), 9. Zach Daum (18), 10. Jacob Denney (15), 11. Gunnar Setser (21), 12. Justin Grant (5), 13. Kale Drake (11), 14. Briggs Danner (3), 15. Jonathan Beason (20), 16. Steven Snyder Jr. (12), 17. Kaylee Bryson (23), 18. Colton Robinson (26-P), 19. J.J. Yeley (17), 20. Brecken Reese (24), 21. Cale Coons (13), 22. Jakeb Boxell (25-P), 23. Bradley Cox (8), 24. Ricky Thornton Jr. (2), 25. Logan Seavey (22), 26. Kyle Cummins (19).
Jacob deGrom pitched seven strong innings and the Texas Rangers took advantage of a bone-headed play by Cleveland rookie outfielder Cooper Ingle on Tuesday night to beat the Guardians 4-2 and extend their winning streak to six games.
DeGrom (7-5) allowed a two-run homer to Kyle Manzardo in the first before turning dominant. The right-hander gave up a leadoff single in the second before retiring 18 of the next 19 batters, improving to 4-0 in June.
Joc Pederson hit a two-run homer and Josh Jung added a solo shot as the AL West-leading Rangers improved to 7-2 on their road trip.
They got a big assist in the seventh inning when Ingle, making just his second major league start in the outfield, lost track of the number of outs and tossed a live ball into the stands, allowing the Rangers to take a 3-2 lead.
With a runner at second and one out, Ingle caught a routine fly ball hit by Rangers left fielder Alejandro Osuna for the second out. Thinking it was the third out, Ingle looked at the ball in his glove before throwing it over the protective netting to fans.
The umpires immediately ruled the ball was dead, and Ezequiel Duran was awarded home plate.
Pederson connected for his 14th homer — and 11th since May 26 — off Tanner Bibee (2-9) to tie it 2-all in the third.
Jung’s ninth homer made it 4-2 in the eighth.
Manzardo gave the Guardians a 2-0 lead in the first with his 10th homer.
Rangers shortstop Corey Seager was pulled before his at-bat in the first inning because of back discomfort. The five-time All-Star missed 19 games earlier this season with back spasms.
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