THE ISSUE

Denali National Park is recognized as one of the best places in the world for people to see wolves in the wild and, more than anywhere else in Alaska, wolves in the eastern region of Denali National Park provide significant wolf viewing opportunities as visitors travel along the Park Road.

From 2000 to 2010, the Alaska Board of Game approved the closure of certain areas outside of but adjacent to the eastern region of Denali National Park (the buffer zone) to wolf hunting and trapping year-round in order to protect wolf viewing opportunities in the park. In 2010, the Board of Game eliminated the buffer zone, and wolf viewing inside Denali National Park dropped precipitously. 

In 2014, the Alaska Board of Game approved “baiting” for grizzly bears in this area, allowing hunters to effectively lure wildlife out of the park. In 2016, the alpha female wolf of a well-known and long-studied pack was shot at a bear bait station in the Wolf Townships and her GPS collar illegally destroyed. The pack collapsed as several other members were killed.

WHAT AWA HAS DONE

After rallying environmental voices in the “Wolf Wars” and leading the Wolf Summit against predator control in the early 1990s, AWA fought hard for the wolf buffer around Denali National Park. In March, 2018 AWA submitted a letter to the Senate Resources Committee urging members to vote in favor of CSHB 105, which would establish a no-hunting buffer zone adjacent to Denali National Park. Both measures failed. 

In 2019, Alaska Wildlife Alliance invited filmmaker Ramey Newell to explore the ongoing controversy over hunting and trapping of wolves at the boundary of Denali National Park. A Good Wolf [working title] will be an independent feature-length documentary that explores diverging viewpoints within the context of the lengthy, emotionally charged, and continuing battle over how wolves (and bears) are managed in the Stampede Corridor.

WHY DOES this matter?

Denali National Park is said to be the historical epicenter of wolf controversy in America, which runs deep and wide. Transboundary wildlife issues are almost ubiquitous in National Parks across the country and have recently come to the forefront in places like Yellowstone, where reintroduced wolves are simultaneously lauded by environmentalists for their perceived positive ecological impacts, and intentionally targeted by hunters and ranchers at the park boundary. As the gray wolf faces federal delisting from the Endangered Species Act, the debate over its place among humans is rekindled. To unpack the deeper themes at play in this controversy, we can return to the unabated conflict at its epicenter.

HOW can you help?

We need volunteers to testify at the Alaska Board of Game meeting in March 2020. If you are available to speak up for Denali’s wolves, email us at info@akwildlife.org . 

Donate to the Good Wolf documentary project to help the filmmaker produce and share the story of Denali’s wolves. Navigate to https://www.akwildlife.org/film-fund to donate and share. 

Do you want to learn more about the Denali Wolf and the buffer zone issue? Click here to read our full blog post!

Do you want to learn more about the Denali Wolf and the buffer zone issue? Click here to read our full blog post!