I just finished discussing Denali's wolves at Café' du Mundo with Dr. Gordon Haber, an independent scientist who studies wolves in Denali and elsewhere in ..:NAMESPACE PREFIX = ST1 />Alaska.

East Fork/Toklat Wolves

According to Gordon, the East Fork/Toklat wolves are still subsisting on the declining snowshoe hare population. And because of the young age in which they wolves were orphaned (spring of 2005 –

The Targeting & Trapping of Denali's Wolves) they have never learned to hunt moose and especially sheep which are prevalent in the area. This is a significant shift in their historical behavior when both moose and primarily sheep were preyed upon.  

Additionally, Gordon showed two maps of where radio collared wolves were found. The map before these wolves were orphaned showed extensive usage of their territory from the Sanctuary River to the beyond Stony Hill and from beyond the northern park boundary to the Alaska Range.  

The current map beginning after the six young wolves were orphaned (spring 2005) to today, shows a tremendous reduction in territorial usage, the wolves are primarily concentrating their use in the Sanctuary and Teklanika River drainages, south of the park road. This would explain why we are seldom observing these wolves.  

According to Gordon, these wolves never learned the full extent of their territory, and are not even traveling up to the higher ridge tops to hunt sheep. At some point, things are going to dramatically change for these wolves when the hare population crashes to the point where it can't support them. And there is no predicting what will happen then.

Grant Creek/Toklat West Wolves

The big news for these wolves is that the alpha female and a pup were killed by the East Fork wolves after they were caught deep in East Fork's territory last October. It is unknown whether there is a female of breeding age (at least 2 years old) in the family group and if there is, whether she and the alpha male will breed and produce pups.

So, whether we will have a chance to view and photograph this family group at its den site south of the park road west of the Toklat River and it coming and goings is completely up in the air.

 Trapping

Also, according to Gordon, Coke Wallace of Denali Saddle Safaris has his traps and snares set up again just north of the park boundary and is taking wolves at an unprecedented rate from previous years. He is primarily, taking other wolves some which have traveled over 100 miles from the western portion of the park to hunt the caribou in the Stampede area. But, if the eastern wolf family groups (those most likely to be viewed) East Fork, Mt. Margaret, or Grant Creek travel north outside the park, they to, would be exposed to his snares and traps.

Additionally, because of the poor snow conditions, Gordon claims that Coke cannot check his traps in a timely manner, leaving any wolves trapped or snared to suffer an agonizing death.

Lastly, Gordon also brought up the issue of why Princess Hotel, McKinley Park Chalets, and other businesses refer their guests to Denali Saddle Safaris (Coke's business), when Coke is targeting park wolves and consequently, attempting to deny park visitors a chance to view them. The only way to force Coke not to target Denali's wolves is to economically choke off his summer business.

I would encourage all Denali businesses to uphold the ideals of Denali National Park and the protection of its wildlife, even species that temporarily, foray outside the park. Furthermore, I would advocate that they do and refer business to other companies who likewise uphold and respect these principles.

Those businesses whose actions are opposed to these ideals, yet wish to profit from them parasitically, should ideally, be denied any referrals.

If anyone has any questions, feel free to contact me, although I will be traveling from February 15th to March 10th.

All the best.

Bill

Watkins Nature Photography