Moose Management: $695,000. Wildlife: Priceless

PORTSMOUTH, N.H. – The price tag was such that New Hampshire Executive Councilor Debora Pignatelli did a double take: $695,000 ... for moose management?

"Does that seem like a lot of money to you?" she asked New Hampshire Fish and Game Executive Director Glenn Normandeau.

The contract before Gov. Maggie Hassan and the Executive Council on July 24 called for a cooperative agreement with the University of New Hampshire for a research project in support of moose management. The council approved it, but not without a review of the issue.

The moose population is confronting disease issues (there is a tick mortality rate, for instance) and climate-related impacts. Each year about 250 moose are killed on New Hampshire roads and highways. By comparison, in the 2013 moose lottery for hunting, 275 permits were issued. There are an estimated 4,500 moose in the state.

But there appear to be larger forces at work, which have affected moose populations in Vermont and region.

Normandeau, in response to Pignatelli, also noted it was a contract through 2017. 

"Radio collaring moose is extremely expensive," he said. "It's not just a bunch of people running around in the bushes with dart guns."

The contract funding – which is 100 percent federal funds over four years – pales in comparison to the economic value to the state of New Hampshire, Normandeau explained.

Moose are, according to the contract information, "an invaluable ecological, economic, and recreational resource in New Hampshire. The annual estimated economic expenditure associated with New Hampshire wildlife-watching exceeds $250 million."

Moose also generate more than $300,000 annually in direct revenue for New Hampshire Fish and Game, which is used for wildlife management, enforcement and staffing.

The moose management will involve intensive tracking of 80 to 100 radio-collared moose cows and calves. Researchers will use a helicopter to initially track down the moose and fit them with the GPS collar.