shortage and die-off in 1990, the numbers were reduced to about 100. In 2012 there were about 200 caribou on the Slate Islands. Wolves reached the archipelago in the early 1990s, preying heavily on the caribou, but for reasons not entirely understood, they disappeared a few years later. Wolves are again present on the island since winter 2015/16 (or earlier) as evidenced by aerial observation and scat. The waters surrounding the Slate Islands have been protected from commercial fishing to preserve one of the last native stocks of lake trout in Lake Superior. The Islands have been a source of lake trout brood stock used at the Dorion Fish Hatchery, and fingerlings are planted back to Lake Superior to restore the fishery. Species Mammals found on the islands include woodland caribou, grey wolf, beaver, muskrat, snowshoe hare, red fox, meadow jumping mouse, and little brown bat. Bird species include American bittern, bald eagle, Canada goose, common loon, great blue heron, grey jay, herring gull, red-breasted merganser, and peregrine falcon. Amphibians present include blue-spotted salamander, boreal chorus frog, Cope's gray treefrog, western American toad, northern spring peeper, and wood frog. Flora The cooling effect of Lake Superior makes the Slate Islands a particularly harsh habitat for its latitude. As a result, islands harbour arctic and alpine plant species such as alpine chickweed (at its most southerly occurrence), Dryas drummondii (not found again for 1600 km (1000 mi) north), and alpine bistort, an Inuit delicacy eaten with seal oil. These arctic disjuncts are reminders of ice ages and associated tundra conditions in this area in the past. Vascular plants found on the islands are: balsam fir (Abies balsamea) black spruce (Picea mariana) eastern white cedar (Thuja occidentalis) northern mountain ash (Sorbus decora) quaking aspen (Populus tremuloides) white birch (Betula papyrifera) alpine bistort (Bistorta vivipara) alpine chickweed (Cerastium alpinum) alpine cliff fern (Woodsia alpina) [Carex glaciali|alpine sedge]] (Carex glaciali) American dune grass (Leymus mollis) American mountain-ash (Sorbus americana) Appalachian fir-clubmoss (Huperzia appalachiana) beach pea (Lathyrus japonicus) bird's-eye primrose (Primula mistassinica) black crowberry (Empetrum nigrum) butterwort (Pinguicula spp.) common butterwort (Pinguicula vulgaris) Canadian yew (Taxus canadensis) creeping snowberry (Gaultheria hispidula) cut-leaved anemone (Anemone multifida) devil's club (Oplopanax horridus) dwarf rattlesnake plantain (Goodyera repens) entire-leaved mountain-avens (Dryas integrifolia) goldie's round-leaved orchid (Platanthera macrophylla) goldthread (Coptis trifolia) heartleaf twayblade (Listera cordata) horned dandelion (Taraxacum ceratophorum) knotted pearlwort (Sagina nodosa) Labrador tea (Rhododendron groenlandicum) lady fern (Athryium