Order halts wolf hunting near Denali Park
Article Last Updated:
Friday, November 01, 2002 – 7:34:34 PM MST
An emergency order has been issued to halt hunting and trapping of
wolves on state land just east of Denali National Park and Preserve.
The order was issued by Wayne Regelin, the director of the Division of
Wildlife Conservation. Officials say without the order the buffer zone,
and the protections it affords the wolves, would have had to wait until
next year.
The Board of Game approved the new buffer zone at its Anchorage meeting.
The areas affected by the emergency closure are Unit 20-C and part of Unit
20-A. Hunting began August tenth and trapping was scheduled to begin
November first. Both seasons would have run through next April.
Pete Buist, board member and former president of the Alaska Trappers
Association, says Regelin was wrong to issue the emergency regulation
because there is no biological emergency.
He says the Trappers Association feels the millions of acres in the park
should be enough for non-consumptive uses