After more than a century of decline, Michigan now has a respectable moose population.

Moose were once common in both Michigan's upper and lower peninsulas, but by 1900 they had disappeared from the Lower Peninsula, and populations were substantially reduced in the Upper Peninsula. This was mainly due to settlers moving into Michigan, hunting moose and altering or destroying their habitat.

In the 1930s, Isle Royale was estimated to have 3,000 moose. In an effort to increase the Upper Peninsula's moose population, 70 moose were moved from Isle Royale to the Upper Peninsula. Moose sightings continued, but these efforts failed to significantly increase the moose population. By the 1940s, the moose population declined to a low level.

As the white tail deer population declined drastically in the Upper Peninsula in the 1970s, the Michigan Department of Natural Resources (DNR) began to consider translocating more moose back into the Upper Peninsula to fill this vacant habitat.

The resulting program was a huge undertaking. In 1985 and 1987, the state brought 61 moose into northwest Marquette County from Algonquin Provincial Park in Ontario.

The goal of Michigan's moose program was to establish a self-sustaining population of free ranging moose. Although the population has fluctuated, the moose reintroduction program has been a success. Current data are still being analyzed, but the DNR estimates there are currently 600 moose in the western Upper Peninsula.

Rolf Peterson, a professor of wildlife ecology at Michigan Technological University, says that Isle Royale's moose population has also risen from about 900 animals in 2001 to 1,200 in 2002.