Fairbanks Daily News-Miner from Fairbanks, Alaska • Page 23

Biologist Tells Of Methods Used to Count Wolves By ROBERTO. STEPHENSEN Walt Biologist Alaska Department offish Game Many people have posed the question, "How many wolves are there in The question is Impossible to answer in any precise way but we might arrive at a reasonable 'figure using available Information about toe wolf 'population density in Alaska, Information obtained in various studies done by the Alaska Department of Fish and Game during the last 15 years indicates that wolf densities in Alaska range from about one wolf per 25 square.miles (during a population high in southeastern Alaska) to one wolf per 125 square miles (during a population low on the North Slope). In interior and south- central Alaska wolf densities seem to fall in the range" from one per 35 to one per 80 square miles. There are 565,000 square miles of land in Alaska. If we assume that at least 65,000 square miles is not inhabited by wolves (this includes certain islands, glaciers and the highest parts of mountain ranges and coastal wetlands in southwestern Alaska) and.

that the average population density of wolves is one wolf per 50 square miles it would mean there are 10,000 wolves in the state. The actual number is somewhere in this area and of course varies seasonally and from year to year. The number of wolves in southeastern Alaska is at a low level due to a drastic drop in the number of deer in the area in recent years. In southcentral, interior and Arctic Alaska wolf numbers are at present moderate to moderately high and the future of the wolf in Alaska is quite secure. The current and probable future level of human exploitation of wolves in Alaska appear to pose no threat to the perpetuation of a healthy population of wolves inthe state.

The following constitutes a brief review of the methods used by the Alaska Department of Fish and Game to estimate wolf population levels. Wolf Survey Methods During the last few years, and to a limited extent in the late 1950's, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game has attempted to make estimates of wolf abundance in a number of areas. These surveys involve the use of small aircraft to locate and follow the tracks of wolf packs following fresh snowfall. Surveys are usually undertaken in late February and March when weather and snowfall provide the best conditions for aerial tracking. Areas are selected for surveys on the basis of need for wolf density information.

Areas are usually delineated on the basis of physiographic boundaries such as large rivers, divides, or large drainages and include at least 2,000 square miles of wolf habitat and usually more. An effort is made to use pilots and observers with a certain degree of skill in identifying wolf tracks and following them with an aircraft. Flight routes coincide in a general way with terrain on which tracks are visible and over which wolves are likely to travel. Waterways offer the best tracking in most areas but lakes, trails, open ridges, knolls and other promontories are also flown. Wolves travel in these areas and also lend to use promontories as resting places.

Of crucial importance to the success of aerial wolf surveys is the presence of fresh snow. Wolves are more likely after periods of inclement weather and fresh snow erases old tracks which can cause a great deal of confusion in trying to determine the number of wolves in a pack and their direction of travel. When fresh tracks are encountered during a survey, the first effort is to establish the direction of travel and the number of wolves involved. At times wolves fan out on a lake or river ice and their number can be determined from the air. If this is not possible an effort is made to land and assess the number of wolves on the ground.

The trail of a pack is followed if possible to obtain information on the numberofwolvesand their color. If a pack of wolves in not located, but a general idea as to its numbers and whereabouts is obtained, the areas lying between it and the locations of i 'her packs are flown to eliminate the possibility of duplication. Every effort is made to maximize the amount of Hying during the two or three days following a snowfall. An important aspect of interpreting the results of wolf surveys consist of expressing the number of wolves in terms of square miles per wolf. The surface area of survey areas is determined either by counting townships or with a planlmeter.

Refutes Claim Toe Wildlife Digest has long thought that the Alaska Department of Fish and Game has been lax in countering we old wive's tales and outright lies about wolves that invariably permeate wiullile "documentaries" and the publications of the protectionist organizations. The department has facts that make it no less than outright deceit when the people in the lower '48 are told that wolves are endangered in North America; that there are only 2,000 to 5,000 in Alaska and that they are decreasing; or the best one of all--that wolves take only toe sick, weak and undesirable game- Printed below are two rare pieces of correspondence gleamed from high officials in the Game Department. The first is in answer to complaints about the Fish and Game Board establishing a limited hunting season on wolves on the Kenai Penninsula last year: ALASKA DEPARTMENT OP FISH AND GAME Subport Building Juneau, Alaska 99801 July 2,1974 Dear Editor, I would like to take this opportunity to clarify some of the inaccurate information contained in the various letters which have been printed recently regarding wolves. These letters were written, for the most part, by people from the lower 48 who are members of the American and Canadian Wolf Defenders, Defenders of Wildlife and various other preservation organizations. These people are opposed to the utilization or harvest of any renewable resource regardless of the basic facts involved.

Wolves are not endangered in Canada or Alaska, in fact they are increasing in numbers in these areas. These animals were absent from the Kenai Peninsula for many years but in the early 1960s, re-established themselves there. As a result of surveys conducted this spring, the Game Division estimates that there are now from 150 to 200 wolves on the Kenai Peninsula (including pups born this spring). Wolves can and do sustain a higher level of natural mortality than most other game animals--their reproductive potential is much higher than other game animals. The harvest of wolves does not disrupt the breeding potential of these animals as some folks believe.

Wolf populations, in our experience, have a high.rate of turnover, and whenever the dominant members of the pack are killed by disease, accidental injury, stress or strife associated with the breeding season, or those stresses caused by man, these members are replaced by others. Such disruptions have only a short term impact that is not consequential to the population's welfare. The contention that wolves take only the sick, wounded or unthrifty game is not correct. Studies conducted in Alaska show that wolves take prey in about the same sex and age proportions as are found in those populations (the exception is young animals that make up the preponderance of their prey). The regulation allowing the taking of wolves on the Kenai Peninsula was designed to provide a closely controlled and limited harvest of the healthy wolf population in that area.

We feel that human use of this resource is justified since conservation entails the wise use of our natural resources and use includes harvesting as well as viewing. Sincerely Prank Jones Division of Game Department of Fish and Game Expressing survey results in this fashion provides a common denominator so that results can be compared with similar estimates made in Alaska and elsewhere in the wolfs range. Due to the wolf's great mobility, relatively low density compared to other big game animals, and the difficulty in- volved in covering large areas rapidly (which is necessary to determine wolf numbers) these surveys provide no more than a. rough estimate of wolf numbers that is useful in delecting upward or downward trends and in calculating the effect of wolf predation on various big game populations. Alaska Wildlife Digest, Spring, 1975-9 'Never Cry Wolf Labeled Phony By Canadian The book "Never Cry Wolf" was first published in 1963.

Later it came out in paperback form and has become popular reading for many people not ordinarily interested in wildlife. The book is pure fiction but presented as the truth. It is no insult to a person's intelligence if he believes it, because many wildlife authorities were faked out by it. Reprinted here is most of a statment which appeared In the Journal of Wildlife Management, Volume 30, No. 1, January 1966 written by Douglas H.

Pimlott, Department of Zoology, University of Toronto (himself a wolf authority) who researched the author and his source material for the book: "Since Farley Mowat published his first book on the Canadian North, 'People of the Deer' (Little, Brown and Boston; McClelland and Stewart, Toronto, 1952,344 pp.) he has become one of Canada's best known and, in some circles, most controversial authors. The controversial aspect of his writing has developed from his flair for building fictional and semifictional narratives around grains of truth and then publishing the results as nonfiction. In the case of some of them, for example 'People of the Deer' and 'Never Cry Wolf, the result has been that many people, who have no reason to doubt the authenticity of his writing, accept it at face value and complain bitterly about the abuses, and inefficiency of which he writes. 'Never Cry Wolf is an intriguing first- person account of Mowat's alleged experiences in getting to and studying a family of wolves in the Keewatin District of the Northwest Territories as a biologist with the Dominion Wildlife Service (now the Canadian ildlife Service). The author gives a powerful and sympathetic portrayal of the wolf personality.

He is apparently greatly concerned about their preservation. In fact, the underlying theme of the book is a condemnation of the wolf control work that has been conducted on the range of the Barren Ground caribou. "I undertook a detailed investigation to gain an understanding of the factual content of the book after a representative of the Canadian publisher assured me that it was nonfiction. Among other things, 1 referred to 'People of the Deer' and to Mowat's 1948 official unpublished report, 'Field Studies of the Barren Land Wolf (unpublished ms. Canadian Wildlife Service).

It was immediately apparent that there are now three accounts, all different, of Mowat's experiences in 1948. "This latest one Is based on a grain of fact; he did work for the Wildlife Service, and he did observe wolves (although in much less detail than is indicated in 'Never Cry Wolf). However, that is close to being the full extent of the fact behind the book. The remainder is a blend of fancy, fantasy, and the published data of other workers, to whom no reference is made in the book (see also a-review by A.W.F. Banfield, Canadian Field Naturalist TO1): As long as those environmentalists think we eat just mice ana 1 rabbits we are on easy street if we don't run out of moose, sheep and caribou.

"Although the title of the book is 'Never Cry Wolf, Mowat has done the cause of wolf preservation a disservice by doing Just that about wolf control in the Canadian north. Many persons who responded to his cry, by writing letters of complaint to governmental authorities, now realize that their source of information was not factual. The result may be that they will be much less likely to respond to future appeals for fear that someone is crying wolf again. "To sum up, I would delight in much of 'Never Cry Wolf if it had been presented as what it really is--fiction based on fact. The presentation of it as nonfiction, however, is at least (Editor's Note: In the February 1975 issue of "Alaska" magazine, -page 57, appears an advertisement for sources of wolf information.

It reads: "For readers interested in learning more about wolves, the following sources are available from Alaska magazine's book One of the four sources they list is Mowat's "Never Cry Wolf." We would like to suggest, for the sake of honesty, that they either label this "fiction" or replace it with AdoJph's Murie's Wolves of Mt. No longer can you sit back and let the other.fellow do your fighting for you if you want to preserve your hunting and fishing rights! Act now..