by Marshall Chisholm

Created on: April 23, 2009   Last Updated: April 27, 2009

(written in 2004)

Wolves have had a fluctuation in population over the past years. The most troubling factor in this is the subtle decline through the population. Wolves are important in the northern environment, and crucial in many other animals' survival. With this decline, there is a scarce awareness. People have hardly any cares or concern for the world outside of their homes. People also are not aware of how they are the causes of the problems outside their homes. Decrease in population can be solved in several ways, yet the most effective while still reasonable to society and schedules; is to show past experiments and results of wolf rehabilitation in areas, and to find the most effective aspects of each and form a new working plan or system.

In 1867 the United States purchased Alaska from Russia for over $7,000,000 dollars, one of the largest land purchases ever recorded (http://worldatlas.com/webimage/countrys/namerica/uss tates/ak.htm. The purchase left the United States drained for funding areas. Quickly the United States looked for uses of the newly purchased state. In the late 19th century, Alaska proved it's uses. A sudden gold rush provided the united states considerable sums of income. Following this was the Prudhoe Bay oil and gas reservoir discovery in 1968. With these two major events, Alaska contributed a sum of income in the billions for the United States.

Following this sudden surge of popularity in Alaska, hunters, trappers, and miners started to move in vast numbers into Alaska. A new pastime for the new residents was hunting, for sport. Wildlife in the area was affected severely, most of all, the wolf. The most popular and devastating form of hunting was aerial shootings. From planes and helicopters, people would shoot wolves for target practice. (http://home.acadia.net/mainewolf/facts.html

Alaska is the largest state in the United States. Because of it's vastness, awareness of the decreasing population was slow. The national parks were not even aware of this problem until the numbers were at a critical low. One main reason for the ignorance to this problem was the rapid colonization of Alaska's wilderness. What triggered an awareness was the rise in rodents, such as jack rabbits, chipmunks, etc. At first, only sympathizers and animal rights committees fought for a case. When the wolf problem was brought to the attention of the state, little was done besides setting aside reserves.

(Mech, 30).

Following the depression after the gold rush, Alaska

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