General area where moose were radio-collared (cross-hatched area).

Refuge Manager Mike Spindler collects a fecal sample from a drugged moose. FWS photo. March 16, 2008.

A cow moose looks none the worse for wear after being collared eight days earlier. FWS photo. March 24, 2008.

Kanuti National Wildlife Refuge, Gates of the Arctic National Park and Preserve, the Bureau of Land Management, and the Alaska Department of Fish and Game worked together to fit 58 moose (10 bulls and 48 cows) with radio-telemetry collars in north-central Alaska, March 13 – 18, 2008.  None of the involved agencies had the wherewithal to conduct this project alone; only through partnering were resources sufficient to pull it off.

Collaring efforts were concentrated in two main areas:  the Refuge and the Middle Fork Koyukuk River valley between Coldfoot and Wiseman.  Moose will be radio-tracked at least once a month throughout the year.  Five of the moose were equipped with GPS collars that will record moose locations more frequently.

This is the first time that moose have been radio-collared in both areas, and the project is expected to provide important information on moose movements and seasonal distribution.  Biologists are particularly interested in determining the origin of moose that concentrate in the Middle Fork Koyukuk River valley during winter.  Moose congregate along the river when snow gets deep in the surrounding hills and mountains, but nobody knows where they are coming from.  Having cow moose collared will also help biologists locate animals during spring twinning surveys.  The proportion of cows that produce twin calves is used as an index of the population’s nutritional status – a high proportion of twins indicates that moose are in good nutritional shape.  Without radio-collars in this region of low moose density, it can be difficult to locate enough cows (about 50) to calculate twinning rates during the brief survey window. 

For further information contact refuge Supervisory Wildlife Biologist Lisa Saperstein at 907-456-0508 or Refuge Manager, Mike Spindler at 907-456-0331.