Oral History Interview with Milt Stenlund
DATE: June 22, 1995
INTERVIEWER: Nancy Jo Tubbs
Milt Stenlund was born in Ely, Minnesota. in 1919. He worked as a wildlife biologist for the Minnesota Department of Conservation starting in 1946 and in 1973 became a regional administrator for the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources at Region Two in Grand Rapids, Minnesota.
Stenlund discusses his wolf research during the 1940s, including using canoes in summer and snowshoes in winter to visit sites of wolf-killed deer; measuring wolves killed by bounty hunters and taking samples from the wolves' stomachs; efforts to convince people that the bounty system should be ended; various government actions taken in the 1950s and 1960s to protect wolves; wolf protection as a part of preserving larger biological systems in the north woods; recovery of the state's wolf population and suggestions for limited shooting and trapping of wolves in order to protect farm livestock; the influence of environmental groups on wolf policy; competition among northern Minnesota cities for the International Wolf Center; and increasing sophistication of wolf research, including studies of wolves' social activities and the use of statistics and computer modeling.
LENGTH OF INTERVIEW: 1 hour 15 minutes
TRANSCRIPT: 17 pages
