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Intrigue on Isle Royale

Wolves, moose and murder, oh my!

Mystery fans' favorite national-park ranger, Anna Pigeon, has returned to Lake Superior's Isle Royale National Park.

The first time she was there, she called the wilderness island "hypothermia country'' — and that was summer. Now, in Nevada Barr's new "Winter Study,'' the sharp-tongued ranger is spending her winter studying dwindling numbers of wolves and moose. There's a mysterious death, of course, in which wolves figure prominently.

Barr's timing is good: The famous moose-wolf study, conducted by researchers from Michigan Technological University in Houghton, is celebrating its 50th anniversary. This year's study, expected soon, is not expected to bear good news for wildlife devotees.

Barr's new book comes out April 1, and her first tour stop is April 2 at the Barnes and Noble in the Twin Cities suburb of Edina. In the book, real-life researcher Rolf Peterson has retired, and researchers are joined by an official of the Department of Homeland Security, which wants to keep the park open year-round to protect the U.S. border from terrorists. That, however, would shut down the study (Read the first chapter).

Expect other real-life characters to be featured. Barr's other book about Isle Royale, 1994's "Superior Death'' featured a real shipwreck with real bodies, a real would-be cannibal and characters modeled on real park-service employees.

Interest is keen: As of March 13, there were 57 requests for the book at Minneapolis libraries.

But the researchers' work also makes compelling reading. Around 1900, moose migrated from Minnesota and were free of predators for nearly 50 years, until Lake Superior froze and a pair of wolves scampered over. Their study has chronicled the relationship between predator and prey.

"I read some of these reports about wolf and moose dynamics and they're chilling; it raises the hair on my neck sometimes,'' says Marcia Goodrich, publicist for Michigan Tech.

The populations have seesawed back and forth, but now, global warming has entered the equation. The heat-sensitive moose are dwindling, providing less food for wolves. Warmer summers have stressed the shaggy, 1,000-pound animals and stopped them from eating as much food as they need to survive the winter. A burgeoning population of winter ticks has latched onto the moose by the tens of thousands, weakening them through blood loss and by distracting them from eating. And there are fewer balsam firs, their preferred food.

In 2002, there were more than 1,000 moose on the island; last year, there was a record low of 385. Wolves hit a high of 50 in 1980; last year, they were down to 21 from 30.

However, researchers found on this year's study that a new pack had formed. Read their fascinating field notes at www.isleroyalewolf.org.

For more on visiting Isle Royale, see Isle Royale reverie.

Writer Barr, now living in New Orleans, is writing a blog about her new book. The first issue she addressed was about the increasing violence in her books, especially her previous book, "Hard Truth,'' which involved children camping in Rocky Mountains National Park.

"Though ("Winter Study'') is harsh, I promise you only the truly vile and odious suffer the extremes of my inner evil,'' she wrote in a March 11 entry.

Last updated on March 13, 2008