178

MICHAEL W. SCHRAGE

DISTINGUISHED MOOSE BIOLOGIST - 2010 RECIPIENT

The Distinguished Moose Biologist 
Award was presented to Mike Schrage at the 
45th North American Moose Conference and 
Workshop, International Falls, Minnesota, 
June 23-26, 2010 in recognition of his many 
contributions to our understanding of moose 
biology and management. 

Mike received his B.S. from the University 
of Idaho in 1990, where he learned a great 
deal about moose from Dr. Jim Peek (DMB, 
1994) who also served as his undergraduate 
advisor. Mike went on to Virginia Tech and 
received his M.S. in 1994 while studying black 
bear. After receiving his M.S. Mike became 
the Wildlife Biologist for the Fond du Lac 
Band of Lake Superior Chippewa based out 
of Cloquet, Minnesota in 1995. 

His management responsibility is for all 
wildlife species and hunting and trapping 
activities on the Fond du Lac Reservation 
and in their treaty areas of northeast and east-
central Minnesota. Among the various projects 
are population surveys, habitat management 
projects and liaison with other government 
and tribal agencies and private organizations 
where policy and actions may impact Fond 
du Lac’s treaty rights.

However, Mike’s main interest is moose. 
Although Mike does not need to publish as a 
wildlife biologist for the Fond du Lac, he has 
been a co-author on peer-reviewed publica-
tions on moose in Minnesota and Isle Royale, 
and has contributed data and effort towards 
many Minnesota DNR publications on moose. 
In addition, Mike has authored numerous 
internal reports for the Fond du Lac Band, 
and reports to granting agencies for various 
contracts.

Mike has been and is an integral member 
of the group of managers and scientists work-
ing on moose in Northeastern Minnesota. 
Each year he participates in the moose harvest 
planning with the DNR and other Native 
American bands. He has manned check sta-
tions every year since the mid-1990’s and is 
part of the moose aerial survey in January. 
He has given numerous presentations to the 
public and has had frequent contact with many 
media outlets.

He is a principal investigator on the VHF 
telemetry project that identified the higher 
mortality rates of adult moose in northeastern 
Minnesota over the last decade. Mike has also 
spent countless hours conducting over 110 field 
necropsies of moose in NE Minnesota. Mike 
has also assisted Dr. Peter Jordan (DMB 1998) 
and Dr. Rolf Peterson (DMB 1990) with their 
research projects on Isle Royale National Park. 
Mike helped organize the 35th North Ameri-
can Moose Conference on the Grand Portage 
Reservation in 1999 and the 45th NAMC in 
International Falls, Minnesota.

Clearly Mike has been a tireless advocate 
for moose management for 16 years. The North 
American Moose Conference and Workshop 
is proud to recognize the professional experi-
ence of Mike Schrage, recipient of this year’s 
Distinguished Moose Biologist Award.