Gray Wolf Status in North Dakota

Authors

Daniel S. Licht, U.S. Fish and Wildlife ServiceFollow
Louis E. Huffman, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

Date of this Version

1996

Comments

Published in The Prairie Naturalist 28(4): December 1996. Used by permission.

Abstract

Recent occurrences and reports of gray wolves (Canis lupus) in North Dakota have generated public interest and created demands on management agencies. We summarized reports of wolves in North Dakota received from the public and government personnel, and evaluated suitability of habitat for wolves. We suggest that in recent years dispersing wolves have sporadically occurred in all quarters of the state except the southwest, and non-dispersing wolves have occurred in the Turtle Mountains region in north-central North Dakota. Habitat data from the 1,500 km² Turtle Mountains physiographic region, bisected by the North Dakota/Manitoba border, suggest the potential for occasional to frequent wolf presence.