Aye, tech base would suffer. I am not saying isolated, or comstar-only worlds would thrive techologically. Wolverines could also start out with enough population, but they need yet another exodus from clan space, which was not yet fully recovered from the warring, so supplies would be hard. Tech base would suffer, as you need a lot of people to maintain a tech base.
All in all, without ISP handy to check with cannon, at best wolverines/minesota would inhabbit a system or 2, with periphery tech base.
I disagree on biowarred worlds ever to be inhabitable btw. Spores of the biowarfare agent are bound to remain. A couple in the face of some people exploring a cellar, and the world is emptied again.