Hunting and trapping on state lands adjacent to Denali National Park has reduced the famed East Fork Toklat pack of wolves to one animal. It’s time to cry foul and speak up for fair and equitable use of public resources. The Walker administration can fix this problem by establishing an appropriate buffer zone state land closed area along the north and east border areas of the park.
[Demise of Denali’s East Fork wolf family group a loss to science, tourism and Alaska]
Wolves are not in jeopardy in Interior Alaska, so this is not a biological issue. It’s an allocation issue, squarely within the responsibility of the state Board of Game to resolve in the best interests of all Alaskans. In this case, the value of relatively accessible packs of wolves near the park borders to the hundreds of thousands of visitors who come to Denali to see wildlife, far outweighs the limited loss of hunting and trapping opportunity involved. And there is precedent for this. A previous state Board of Game established a buffer zone for this purpose in 2000 and 2001. The problem was that it needed to be expanded to adequately protect the wolves who crossed those boundary lines. Instead, a subsequent board summarily repealed the buffer zone entirely, leaving a large segment of public resource users in shock.
[Denali wolf decimination a travesty]
It’s wrong to say that people who want a buffer zone in this case are anti-hunting and trapping. It’s simply that the highest value of the wolves is for tourism and recreational viewing, and most of these people spend considerable sums of money in state to pursue their interests. Many of these same people, like myself, buy a hunting license every year and defend the rights of hunters. As a former member of the state Board of Game, with 13 years of service to Alaskans, I think I know when to strike the right balance on an issue like this. The board has closed other small areas of high value for the benefit of the viewing public. Why should this be any different? As Alaskans, if enough of us make our views known to the governor, there can be a different outcome for these vulnerable Denali wolves.
[Wolf conservation is important for Alaska]
Joel Bennett,
Juneau
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Denali wolf killed in “no wolf kill buffer zone”
Denali’s wolves: A history of loss
Denali’s wolf numbers and viewing remain at historic low level