State proposes killing 100 wolves a year to benefit moose between Denali and Lake Clark parks

State wildlife officials want permission to kill 100 wolves a year via aerial gunning in a massive game unit bounded by Denali National Park and Preserve and Lake Clark National Park and Preserve.

The request by the Alaska Department of Fish and Game is scheduled to be heard by the state Board of Game at a mid-January meeting in Wasilla, along with more than 80 other proposals. The predator control proposal is open for public comment through Dec. 27.

The change would allow state employees in planes and helicopters to shoot wolves in what’s known as Game Management Unit 16. It would also give them the authority to target brown and black bears in the future.

The roughly 22,000-square-mile unit runs from Denali’s southern boundary, along the west side of Cook Inlet, and down to Lake Clark. Located adjacent to population centers in booming Mat-Su, the unit also includes the communities of Tyonek, Skwentna and Trapper Creek.

If approved, Fish and Game staff would directly kill predators in the unit for the first time rather than relying on hunters and trappers to reduce their numbers.

State biologists say they’re seeking the approval to help restore moose populations battered by several heavy-snow winters that led to a spate of encounters with aggressive animals around Southcentral last season.

Predator control is often applauded by hunters but reviled by wildlife advocates. Critics of the state’s new proposal point to research that found killing predators did not lead to better moose hunting in Southcentral.

The proposal takes the state’s reliance on predator control to a “whole new level” given its likely expense, potential for reducing wildlife in beloved parks, and questionable guarantees of success, said Nicole Schmitt, executive director of Alaska Wildlife Alliance.

“It’s distasteful enough we’re paying state employees to shoot bears and wolves and cubs and pups from the air,” Schmitt said. “Then you add into it, it’s on the border of Denali and Lake Clark ... it’s very close to places that people care about, and the whole Anchorage Bowl.”

Efforts to kill predators near Denali National Park — an international destination for people wanting to see a wild wolf — have long been blamed for declining wolf sightings there.

National Park Service officials in Alaska this week said killing wolves from the air is not allowed in Denali or Lake Clark.

“Both parks where GMU 16 overlaps, as a routine matter, patrol areas within national park and preserve boundaries to help ensure that regulations are followed,” Park Service spokesman Pete Christian said in a message Thursday.

[For days, a wolflike canine known as Gary roamed Anchorage. But things were not as they seemed.]

State biologists say their research shows the number of wolves in Unit 16 exceeds those established in a 20-year-old intensive management plan that calls for predator control when moose fall below levels considered healthy enough to support hunting.

Estimates indicate there are just under 6,800 moose in a part of the unit that in 2019 held roughly 10,000, according to Tim Peltier, Palmer-based regional supervisor with the state’s Division of Wildlife Conservation. Moose calf survival is also low, he said.

“Snow knocking the moose population down, combined with predation, is probably keeping it in check somewhat,” Peltier said.

The plan establishes a goal of between 35 and 55 wolves in the unit. Biologists estimate there are 150 to 180 wolves there now, according to Fish and Game comments in the board packet. The state’s proposal calls for reducing the number of wolves in the unit by at least 70% a year.

A hundred wolves need to be killed a year to “reach the wolf population objective of 35-55 wolves,” the proposal states.

The unit’s intensive management plan in the past has called for the removal of 60% of brown bears and 60% to 80% of black bears, though state officials say they have no immediate plans to kill bears now.

Critics of the proposal, including Alaska Wildlife Alliance and Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, say they expect the state to broaden predator control efforts to bears once they get permission despite growing scientific research that killing predators doesn’t necessarily lead to more prey.

They liken the proposed predator control to an ongoing program on Mulchatna caribou calving grounds in which state employees have killed nearly 200 bears and about 20 wolves since 2023 despite studies from agency biologists showing the herd is struggling with disease and malnutrition. Wildlife officials say caribou calf survival has improved since the predator kills began.

The Mulchatna program cost more than $1 million over two years. A Fish and Game analysis found that using staff to conduct predator control in Unit 16 would result in “significant” costs but did not provide a specific estimate.