41.0°

The board also extended a ban on wolf hunting and trapping in a 72-square-mile buffer established in November 2000. That protection was scheduled to end March 31.

The Alaska Wildlife Alliance asked the board to triple the size of the buffer to protect wolves in the Mount Margaret pack, but the board wasn't willing to go that far.

Denali Park Superintendent Paul Anderson supported more protection for wolves. He said 15,000 to 20,000 of the 200,000 visitors who tour the park in buses each year see wolves.

But the Fish and Game Advisory Committee in nearby Healy opposed the idea, noting that the park's protections already have been expanded from 2 million to 6 million acres.

The two wolf packs the board is trying to protect consist of 14 animals - four in the Toklat pack and 10 in the Mount Margaret group. Altogether, biologists have counted 93 wolves in the park.