Our first priority will always be protection of the resource to ensure future generations' use and enjoyment of Alaska's wildlife. For reasons we all understand, basic subsistence needs must come next. Lifestyle and recreational hunting demands, and wildlife viewing needs, deserve balanced consideration. Tourism needs are important for a visitor industry that features Alaska's abundant wildlife in a natural setting. The following scientific findings regarding northern ecosystems and predator-prey relationships come from the work of the Alaska Department of Fish and Game and the report of the National Academy of Science done for the State of Alaska in 1996.
Northern ecosystems are highly dynamic.
Alaska's wildlife abundance, particularly for bears, wolves and caribou, is dependent upon large tracts of unfragmented habitat. Predators, such as bears and wolves, are an essential part of healthy ecosystems in the North because they tend to keep ungulate populations in balance with their habitat's carrying capacity and they are an integral part of nature's food chain. Species from ravens to wolverines benefit from predation by wolves and bears. Wolves and bears are capable of depressing prey populations in some instances, but in most cases wolves and bears stay in balance with prey populations. Management actions to reduce wolf numbers can speed recovery of depressed prey populations in some, but by no means all, cases.