Fewer Wolves Counted in Denali National Park FAIRBANKS — The
number of wolves in Denali National Park and Preserve is the
lowest in 25 years, which has supporters howling to stop
trapping and hunting of wolves on state land just outside the
northeast boundary of the park. Researchers counted just 57
wolves in nine packs during the October survey that was posted
on the National Park Service’s website on Tuesday. That’s down
from 72 wolves in eight packs last year, a 24 percent decrease,
and represents a 63 percent decline from an all-time high
population of 143 wolves in 2007. Not surprisingly, groups and
individuals who have been trying to protect wolves in the park
seized on the survey to rekindle their efforts to reinstitute a
protective buffer zone along the northeast boundary of the park
near Healy. The buffer zone, which prohibited the hunting and
trapping of wolves on state land adjacent to the park, was
eliminated in 2010 by the Alaska Board of Game. The survey
results “confirm fears expressed earlier