Impact of record moose kill uncertain

MAT-SU — After an unusually harsh winter, area moose are heading back to their usual feeding grounds, but aren’t out of the woods.

Just how much a near-record snowpack has affected Southcentral moose herds won’t be known for months, said Olin Albertson, area game manager for the state Department of Fish and Game’s Palmer office. A record count of the main Valley herd of 7,467 taken in November could be substantially affected by winter die-off and a record kill count from vehicle collisions.

“It certainly was one of those years,” Albertson said. “For what we have, (the vehicle kills) are far above anything we’ve recorded before.”

So far this winter, 455 moose have been killed on Valley roads, he said. That compares to a previous record of 387 in the winter of 2002-03. The tally is also significantly higher than the 10-year average of 270 annual moose kills.

As the spring thaw heats up, reports of moose along roadways and altercations with vehicles are slowing down as the large animals make their way back to their normal forage areas, Albertson said.

“Certainly, any reports we have, whether they be vehicle collisions or dead moose, have slowed down,” he said. “That doesn’t mean to say there isn’t any danger in hitting some moose, but our longer daylight hours are certainly helping out. There are lots of areas now getting to be snow-free.”

Along with state wildlife officials recording a record number of moose killed on Valley roads, the winter of 2011-12 also saw the expansion of Alaska Moose Federation operations to include salvaging those moose. Through a $1.8 million state appropriation, AMF began responding to vehicle-moose collisions in Anchorage Jan. 1, and in the Valley Jan. 27.

Since then, AMF volunteers have been called to 91 accidents through the end of March, said AMF administrator Ron Davis. AMF works with Alaska State Troopers by quickly and safely removing dead moose and delivering the carcasses to pre-approved charities. That hasn’t changed.

What’s new is that charities no longer remove the moose from the side of the road. AMF now does that work and delivers the dead animals to each individual group.

About half the email correspondence the AMF responds to involves explaining that the charities still get those moose and the federation does not salvage the animals for itself, Davis said.

Another point of confusion, Davis said, is that the moose federation is not responsible for salvaging all dead moose, only those killed by vehicles on roads, and only those authorized for removal by Alaska State Troopers.

In addition to road-kill numbers, this past winter has been costly for moose along railroad tracks, said Tim Sullivan, external affairs manager for Alaska Railroad Corp. Statewide, 297 moose were killed in the winter of 2011-12, he said. Although not a record, it’s a large increase from the average of 105 annual kills from the previous three years.

Although concerns of moose interacting with traffic and property owners is waning, it probably won’t be until November when wildlife officials will know the impact this past winter had on the herd, Albertson said. That’s when the next moose count will provide a good estimation of numbers, including how many calves, bulls and cows there are.

Until then, there are indications that moose calves were impacted the most this winter, he said.

“There are some concerns as to exactly what happened during the winter,” Albertson said. “Based on what we’ve seen — we look at the bone marrow of some of these moose that have been struck — and as far as we can tell, the calf population has been the most stressed. We don’t think the cow component has been hit that hard.”

Most of that information can be attributed to calves not having much fat stored in their bodies to use during lean times, he said.

“They’re at such a young age, they put a lot of nutrition into growth rather than storing fat,” he said.

Contact reporter Greg Johnson at greg.johnson@frontiersman.com or 352-2269.