Shot by U.S. forester Tom LaPointe from the air last Thursday, these bull moose were seen hanging out together on an old clear cut on the former Champion land between Ferdinand and Lewis. Photo by Tom LaPointe
WENLOCK — There is little to compare, on a flyover of the former Champion lands, with seeing six magnificent bull moose hanging out in a clear cut like boys on the corner. Unless, that is, it’s a solitary bull lying in the open until the noise of a helicopter, roughly 500 feet overhead, provokes him and he rises defiantly, pawing the ground and shaking his head that is covered with an impressive rack. From the helicopter his nostrils appear to flair, but there is no mistaking the message he is sending.
“You want a piece of me? Come on down and we’ll rock and roll.”
The bull’s defiance is, arguably, a point well taken. While helicopters have been flying inspection routes for years over VELCO’s big power line, this is their first appearance in the Vermont woods to find and count moose, using sophisticated equipment and an infra-red camera.
The chopper comes through the courtesy of VELCO, but to get the job done, the state Fish and Wildlife Department is planning to spend $52,000 this year on an effort to obtain a tighter estimate of the size of the state’s moose herd. Ultimately, it’s the size of the herd that determines how many hunting permits are issued for the state’s annual moose hunt.
But when it comes to issuing permits — whatever the natural resource — nothing is ever cut and dried. And while foresters and biologists are often
A defiant bull holds his ground as pilot Leo Boucher brings his four-seat Bell Jet Ranger helicopter into camera range. Photo by Tom LaPointe
on the same page when it comes to protecting the state’s resources, a difference of opinion has arisen over how to strike a balance between moose and trees.
What the difference boils down to is this: Are there too many moose for the Vermont woods? Have their numbers exceeded the carrying capacity of the habitat?
The state has held a moose season since 1993, and this year 1,115 permit holders took 647 moose, which, give or take a later reporting, is just three under the department’s estimate. According to current estimates from the department, the size of the herd ranges between 4,700 and 5,000 animals.
Cedric Alexander is the department’s moose project leader, a position he had held since 1991. In an interview last week, he said the department plans six days of flyovers in Essex County, where the department has established two zones for management purposes. In past years the department has used field surveys, in which hunters during moose season and the rifle season for deer keep track of how many moose they see and send the number in on an elaborate form that asks question like how many hours a day they hunt.
It sounds a little old-fashioned, but Mr. Alexander said he gets about a 20 percent return which, he added, “is a good enough return to have statistical reliability.”
Last year, he said, the sighting rate was the highest it ever has been, and that is why such a large number of permits were issued.
“I think it’s reasonable,” he said speaking of the number of permits that were issued.
Moose country in Essex County as seen from a helicopter over Wenlock. Photo by Paul Lefebvre
Among foresters, Richard Carbonetti has a long view of how moose impact the woods. As the vice president of Timberland LandVest, which manages nearly 800,000 acres from Maine to Pennsylvania, he believes that Vermont must increase the permits it issues to moose hunters or face big problems down the road.
“The short story of a long and biologically complex situation is that the moose population in the NEK has on many, many acres exceeded the carrying capacity of forest to share its regeneration class,” he wrote in an e-mail this week.
In a lengthy explanation of how the problem of overbrowsing has evolved, Mr. Carbonetti said he has seen situations in the Maine woods where moose have destroyed forest understories, creating essentially dead acres of timberland.
“I only hope the recent F&W survey clearly and objectively demonstrates what I and other woodsmen know, we still have way too many moose and the forest and its future is suffering.”
Mr. Alexander is quick to acknowledge criticism that the department is not issuing enough permits. Still, he is not convinced that the population warrants more permits.
There are studies, he noted, that the reproduction rate of moose in the Northeast is falling off. Over the last two years, he said, only 10 percent of the adult cows produced twins. Prior to that the rate was 40 percent.
As for the new technology in counting moose, he said it was still in an experimental stage, and that he still has to grow comfortable with it. Even then, he isn’t expecting any surprises.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if it comes out to where we thought it would be,” he said, speaking of estimating the herd’s size in Essex County’s two zones. “We’ll work with what we get.”
The flyovers will resume in January, in time for Mr. Alexander to prepare his permit recommendation that is due in February.
