The Alaska Board of Game has denied a request to establish an immediate no-hunting zone around Denali National Park to protect the wolf population after a female wolf was earlier this year. For about a decade, a 122-mile buffer zone protected Denali wolves who strayed from the park’s boundaries. Advocates for the buffer zone are concerned that the Denali wolf population is at its lowest in years and failed to produce any pups this past season. Despite advocacy from conservationists, six of the board’s seven members chose not to convene an emergency meeting to reinstate a buffer zone around the park. “It is a shame that a small group of gubernatorial appointees is allowed to determine—behind closed doors and with no public input—the fate of such a treasured national resource,” said Tina Brown, president of the Alaska Wildlife Alliance.
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