News-Miner Community Perspective:
Denali
National Park is arguably Alaska’s crown jewel. People from all over
the world come to see both the magnificent landscape and the iconic
wildlife. Not only are Alaskans proud of this stupendous natural wonder,
but the 400,000 annual visitors provide an important contribution to
Alaska’s economy. Visitors thrill at all the wildlife, but surveys
repeatedly indicate that the two animals they want to see most are
grizzly bears and wolves. No wolves on the planet have been studied,
written about and photographed more than the wolves of Denali Park.
It
would seem obvious that the state would want to protect this
world-class resource. It would seem inconceivable that the State of
Alaska would allow hunters and trappers to travel a narrow corridor cut
deep into the park, set up bait stations, lure these much loved and
studied wolves into this sliver of state-owned land to be trapped or
gunned down. Well, guess what? That is exactly what is happening.
This
painful situation makes no sense on a moral level, a management level,
an economic level or a public-relations level. Without any doubt, the
majority of Alaskans and virtually all of the visitors who have heard of
this practice are outraged and disgusted. Anyone with a shred of
awareness of economic realities is utterly perplexed that the state
would compromise this spectacular economic engine for a few wolf pelts.
Remember
when Cecil, the lion, was lured out of Zimbabwe’s Hwange National Park
and gunned down by a trophy-hunting Minnesota dentist. That story was
the No. 1 trending news story in the world for several days. The disgust
was universal and unanimous.
We
just had our own Cecil-the-lion event. The famed East Fork wolf pack
that numbered 15 just a few years ago, and has been studied continuously
for 70 years, was reduced to two members last year, in part because of
being lured into the state-owned corridor. And now once again, on or
about May 8, we had a male wolf, one of the last two East Fork pack
members lured by bait into this inexcusable kill zone and shot.
Ten
years ago, the number of wolves in Denali stood at 170, and 50 percent
of visitors saw wolves. In the last three years, the total number of
wolves in the park has been 48, an all-time low, and only 5 percent see a
wolf. There are certainly other factors involved in the disappearance
of so many Denali wolves. But make no mistake; this accommodation by the
board of game to allow this situation to continue is an important
factor.
It is an
indication of how out of whack the game board has become. The Alaska
constitution states that wildlife shall be managed for “all Alaskans.”
That’s all Alaskans, not just the 14 percent of the state’s population
that have hunting and trapping licenses. Consider the fact that not a
single game board member is representing the large majority of Alaskans
who are not hunters and or who want to see wolf and bear populations
that are actually alive. Especially in a national park.
It’s
obvious that the board of game cares little about the opinions of
Alaskans if they are not hunters or trappers. This total and complete
imbalance has been brought on by a decade of Republican political
domination. Basically, any person applying to a seat on the board has
little or no chance unless they are a part of the wolf-is-the-villain
hunting fraternity. Consequently, the board is utterly incapable of
correcting this Denali kill zone travesty.
There
was actually a no-kill buffer zone for this area until 2010. It did
exactly what was needed, protecting the park’s wildlife from being
slaughtered. This is not a radical idea. It’s time for Gov. Bill Walker
to step in and correct this embarrassment.
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