Success Stories

Defenders has partnered successfully with numerous local Alaska groups to twice bring Alaska’s aerial wolf-control programs to a halt.  In 1996 and 2000, we helped local groups run two successful citizens’ ballot initiatives that stopped the programs for a period of three years. Today, we continue to look for ways to limit these programs and insure that such management does not spread to federally protected lands in Alaska.

In 2010, Defenders worked with our partners to successfully prevent the state of Alaska from conducting an aerial wolf control program on Unimak Island, a remote National Wildlife Refuge and wilderness area at the tip of the Alaska Peninsula. Programs such as the one proposed for Unimak are inappropriate on Alaska’s federal lands. We will continue to support federal wildlife management strategies that are consistent with federal policies and mandates.