Elk will return to northeast Minnesota in 2026 as restoration plan moves forward

Return of the Elk, WTIP

A great thing!

Too bad they won't be returning to the "Elk River" area too since central
Minnesota is no longer good habitat.

Why not caribou?

I’ve never heard of caribou reintroduction anywhere, so maybe it doesn’t work. But certainly I’d rather see Caribou than elk in the area

I see this is in cloquet, so I guess not really NE MN in my mind and the area makes sense for elk. My point still stands I’d love to see caribou back on the north shore

Caribou are notoriously difficult to re-establish once they are gone, and almost all attempts fail.

Caribou would not survive here on the North Shore because the environment is radically different than it was when caribou lived here.
They have a low reproductive rate, cannot survive where deer, which are not native to NE Minnesota, are present (due to a brain worm that deer carry and transmit which is 100 percent fatal to caribou), don't tolerate much human disturbance on the landscape, and are very vulnerable to wolf predation (wolves are way more abundant now due to deer populations).

A study in the 1990s showed that even the best caribou habitat in the BWCAW would not hold caribou for long.

THEGrandRapids: "Why not caribou?


I’ve never heard of caribou reintroduction anywhere, so maybe it doesn’t work. But certainly I’d rather see Caribou than elk in the area

I see this is in cloquet, so I guess not really NE MN in my mind and the area makes sense for elk. My point still stands I’d love to see caribou back on the north shore "

A quote from the article.
"Elk, a member of the cervid family, was historically common throughout most of Minnesota, except the dense boreal forest region of the Arrowhead."

To your question about Caribou reintroduction. "Edited"
Reintroduction has been tried in Maine without success.
"Mainers have twice attempted, unsuccessfully, to re-establish herds of woodland caribou that roamed the north woods before market hunters slaughtered them in the 19th century."
Maines failed attempt to reintroduce Caribou

LindenTree: "

THEGrandRapids: "Why not caribou?



I’ve never heard of caribou reintroduction anywhere, so maybe it doesn’t work. But certainly I’d rather see Caribou than elk in the area


I see this is in cloquet, so I guess not really NE MN in my mind and the area makes sense for elk. My point still stands I’d love to see caribou back on the north shore "

A quote from the article.
"Elk, a member of the cervid family, was historically common throughout most of Minnesota, except the dense boreal forest region of the Arrowhead."


To your question about Caribou reintroduction.
I believe reintroduction has been tried in Ontario, north of Lake Superior with minimal success."

Caribou have been shown when not in ideal habitat very vulnerable to wolf predation.
I hope it works but wonder with CWD not too far away, do you do as now doing for deer. cut the population down by harvesting, what about wolf predation? The Native Americans do not want wolves shot. Artificial feeding? Just a lot of questions?

In 1913 42 elk form Jackson Hole and 14 from a Ramsey County game farm were moved up to Itasca Park enclosure. Eventually 8 were released by Ely in 1929 and more released by Bemidji in 1934. Last one seen in St. Louis County was 1938.
The animals released in the Red Lake game refuge moved over to Thief Lake and now is part of the elk herd there.

Elk would do fine around Elk river but I don't think the people would tolerate them.

A study was done where to release caribou, the conclusion was by Little Saganaga lake for that is the area of least deer in the State.
Early-mid 1800's there was caribou trails across the bog as far south as the north end of Mille lacs.
Around 1938 caribou reintroduction was tried but failed.

More than once while canoeing Quetico it felt like I was going to see a caribou-it never happened.
I think Quetico gets one wandering in once in a while.

All these comments about Caribou are depressing, but I suppose not surprising.

My bucket list includes a canoe trip on the Slate Islands which still have a small herd of caribou. Watched a video a few years ago about a family that canoed around there. (the kid eventually died from some brain infection fighting a rare cancer. I shed a tear every time. I'll see if I can link it- though I don't want to drag this Elk article into a different territory. ) 24 Leeches

THEGrandRapids: "All these comments about Caribou are depressing, but I suppose not surprising.


My bucket list includes a canoe trip on the Slate Islands which still have a small herd of caribou. Watched a video a few years ago about a family that canoed around there. (the kid eventually died from some brain infection fighting a rare cancer. I shed a tear every time. I'll see if I can link it- though I don't want to drag this Elk article into a different territory. ) 24 Leeches "

Slate Island once had the largest concentration of caribou per sq. mile in North America, about 10 years ago wolves crossed the ice to the Island and I only 2 males caribou were survived. The Canada government then eliminated the wolves and did a reintroduction from a neighboring Island.
The wolves decimated the Michipicoten Island Woodland Caribou herd, and the remaining 15 were transferred to the Slate Islands (9) and Caribou Island (6) after pressure from Michipicoten First Nation (MFN) and a number of concerned Wawa residents. There is no word on the wolves that will remain on Michipicoten Island.

Yes, always dreamed of doing the same trip. Big water scared me off.

Anyway, Elk make bone chilling calls that I would like to hear in Minnesota before I die.

Caribou reintroduction in Minnesota was actively studied several years ago. You can find the particulars on the web. The project withered on the vine after some fairly serious efforts were put into it.