LANSING, MI (AP)-- Forest management practices may be able to help boost Michigan's snowshoe hare population, which researchers say is declining in part due to climate change.
Gary Roloff, an associate professor in Michigan State University's Department of Fisheries and Wildlife, led the research as part of a multi-year study funded by the Michigan Department of Natural Resources.
Researchers looked at more than 130 sites in the state where the animals usually are found. They announced this week that snowshoe hares have disappeared from nearly half of the sites in Michigan's Lower Peninsula and more than a quarter of the sites in the Upper Peninsula.
Roloff says subtle changes to forest management could help the animals. The DNR says the research will help in updating forest management policies.