Story and Photos by Lisa Carolin
Serendipity book store celebrated the release of a new book written by Chelsea resident and author Jeffrey Holden at a July 1 appearance and book signing held in Chelsea District Library’s McCune Room.
Holden’s book is called Dead Moose on Isle Royale: Off Trail with the Citizen Scientists of The Wolf-Moose Project. It’s about backpacking in the wilderness on Michigan’s national park Isle Royale and some of the scientific discoveries Holden and his expeditions have made about the Wolf-Moose Project.
The project is about predators and prey, specifically the wolves and moose of Isle Royale. Every summer, Holden leads groups of citizen scientists on week-long expeditions to the remote island to search for dead moose and collect their bones. The daily realities of those expeditions as well as the scientific discoveries are the focus of the book.
Some of the statistics about Isle Royale shared by Holden include the facts that it is approximately 210 square miles, 99% wilderness, no hunting is permitted, there are no roads and no cars, and no people are there for six months of the year.
Moose have swum 15 miles across Lake Superior to reach the island, and the original wolves arrived on the island via ice bridges. Current estimates are that 800-840 moose and 30-32 wolves, divided into four packs, now reside on the island.
Holden is the president of the Wolf-Moose Foundation, a non-profit to raise funds to ensure long-term financial stability. He has been leading groups searching for moose for 21 years and visiting Isle Royale for nearly 50 years. He credits the island with being one of the most pristine of all U.S. national parks as well as the site of the world’s longest running predator-prey study, the Wolf-Moose Project.
Holden read from his book during his July 1 appearance and answered questions. He encouraged those interested in joining the week-long citizen scientists’ expeditions to learn the realities by reading about previous experiences highlighted in the book. He also brought samples of findings including a moose foot and tailbone.
To learn more about the Wolf-Moose Project, go to https://www.isleroyalewolf.org/
