The Alaska House has passed a bill last week banning wolf harvest on a section of state land bordering Denali National Park.
House Bill 105 prohibits wolf hunting and trapping on the park’s northeastern edge, where a few Denali wolves are harvested each year.
The Alaska Board of Game has refused to reinstate a no-wolf kill area, since scrapping a previous buffer zone in 2010.
Bill sponsor Rep. Andy Josephson of Anchorage told lawmakers before a floor vote Wednesday, the lack of protection has corresponded with a decline in Denali wolf viewing.
”It used to be, around 2010 and before, you had a 50 percent chance, nearly, of seeing a wolf, and that number has fallen to 6 percent,” Josephson said.
Some other lawmakers said the small harvest along the park’s northeastern edge is just one factor in a broader decline of Denali National Park wolves.
District 9 Rep. George Rauscher pointed to another issue.
”One thing about wolves is we know they follow a food source,” Rauscher said. “When a food source is gone, they don’t necessarily stay in that area because of legislation.”
The bill narrowly passed the House 22-18 Wednesday before the regular legislative session ended. It’s fate in the Senate is uncertain.
Legislators are in Juneau for a special session called by Gov. Bill Walker to address state spending and revenue measures.
