Fauna Series No. 1 Cover Contents Foreword Approach Methods Analysis Conspectus Suggested Policy

Fauna of the National Parks of the United States CONSPECTUS OF WILD-LIFE PROBLEMS OF EACH PARK MOUNT McKINLEY The relatively large size of Mount McKinley among the national parks (its 3,030 square miles are only exceeded by the 3,438 square miles of Yellowstone) would argue a vast game refuge. Yet this conception is somewhat erroneous in that at least two-fifths of the total area can not be occupied by most forms of vertebrate life. Timberline is near 3,000 feet. Favorable habitats continue upwards for perhaps another 3,000 feet. But everything above the 6,000-foot contour is a barren waste and many hundreds of square miles on the slopes of Mount Brooks, Mount McKinley, and Mount Foraker are bare rock and ice. Precipitation is heaviest on the south side of the crest, causing very extensive glaciation, and the terrain is extremely rough, a combination so forbidding to life that even man has been content to leave the region unexplored. Only the eastern end and a long narrow strip running the length of the northern boundary favor considerable populations of the larger mammals, and large parts of this area are uninhabitable in winter for some forms that are obliged to leave the park for more clement locations on the great plains of the Yukon. Even the mountain sheep leave the main Alaska Range to winter on the northern, or secondary, range, which, fortunately for them, is still in the park though perilously close to the boundary. FIGURE 54. – The combination of altitude and latitude is such that much of Mount McKinley National Park is not available for wild life. Photograph taken July 14, 1926, in Mount McKinley. Courtesy of the Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, University of California, Berkeley, Calif. Mus. Vert. Zool. No. 5044 It is a prediction worth hazarding that in time to come the north side of the park will be extended still more to include a representative sector of the gentle plain which slopes away from the mountains toward the Yukon River. Addition of a part of this beautiful boreal forest of mixed conifers and hardwoods will give the park its complement to the bleak grandeur and scant growth which characterize its present area. And, what is more vital yet to an area that protects wild life primarily, is that such an enlargement would suffice to make the park a satisfactory faunal unit. Several species, such as moose, which only wander up in the summer into the higher areas now occupied by the park, would be embraced in the fold as bona fide residents, and others, such as the spruce grouse, would be added to the faunal quota. Range requirements of animals now forced beyond the park in search of lower levels would be fulfilled and a greater margin of safety from poaching provided for other species, notably the sheep. Poaching is one of the most serious problems of Mount McKinley Park and may continue to be of great concern for some time, though it should be a steadily diminishing factor. In Alaska there are many so-called prospectors who, the winter months, "live off the country." They trap the fur-bearers and find subsistence for themselves and their dog teams by shooting the game. What they eat themselves is of minor importance, but it takes much meat to feed the dogs. If game is abundant, their methods are frequently very wasteful. A whole sheep may be used for a day's ration for one dog and a caribou may be thrown to two. Sometimes a cache is made of a quantity of game when the opportunity to make a slaughter occurs, on the assumption that it will keep well in the freezing weather and can be utilized when the same spot is revisited on another round. The abundant and increasingly fearless animals of the park are a temptation to some of these men, especially as they resent the withdrawal of the area from the only good use which they could ever see for it in the first place. Three things will help in the solution of the poaching problem. Each succeeding year sees the park better established in the minds of Alaskans as something contributing to the welfare of the Alaska Commonwealth and as an entity to be respected. Secondly, the permanent ranger force, starting with the inadequate nucleus of one, will be enlarged as appreciation of the park's needs and tremendous value brings increased appropriations. Constant patrols are needed throughout the year, particularly in winter, and no less than five rangers should be available to properly discharge this function. The third thing required is the boundary extension mentioned above. If the line could be moved still farther to the north so as to leave the secondary range well within the park instead of at its very edge, poaching of sheep could be prevented. Under the present condition, even a full patrol force could not be expected to effectively surmount the handicap. In gaging the status of wild life in Mount McKinley Park, every allowance must be made for natural cyclical fluctuations of animal populations. In the far north the fauna is poor in species and rich in numbers, and there is a pronounced tendency for periods of great abundance to alternate with lean years in a seemingly rhythmic succession. Other than that these fluctuations in animal numbers do occur, little is known about them. It is one of the most promising fields for investigation in field-vertebrate zoology to-day. Old residents claim that periods of abundance, considering the vertebrates as a whole, occur every six or seven years in this region. However this may be, and whatever the cause or causes, the significant thing to keep in mind is that it is a wholly natural phenomenon. All that the park administration can do or should attempt to do is to guard against any man-caused influences which will affect this natural interplay of forces. If the game dwindles, it should not be a signal for control of the native predators. If on the next swing it seems to become overabundant for the range, no measures should be taken to augment the natural controls which will just as surely appear to reduce its numbers as has always happened before. Any attempt to maintain animal numbers near a mean level would be bound to fail and would probably cause serious maladjustments in itself. Even if it could succeed, the instructive and fascinating story of wild life in the north would be lost. BARREN-GROUND CARIBOU (Rangifer arcticus). – The danger of dilution of the native caribou stock by hybridization with domestic reindeer has been discussed on page 50 as an illustration of this important type of faunal problem. As the park caribou join the annual run which takes them many miles away, they can never be provided for strictly within the park. The fate of the park caribou will be one with the fate of the larger herd of which they form a part. The problem is more than local, with the park playing the role of custodian on one of the important breeding grounds during that critical time in the annual cycle. FIGURE 55. – The caribou of Mount McKinley leave the park grounds seasonally. Hence their fate is one with that of the larger herd of which they form a part during the rut. Photograph taken June 27, 1926, at head of Savage River, Mount McKinley. Courtesy of the Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, University of California, Berkeley, Calif. Mus. Vert. Zool. No. 4963 DALL SHEEP (Ovis dalli dalli). – The beautiful white Dall sheep are easily the greatest of the many animal attractions in the park. As they remain within the boundaries the year through and there is no present danger of contamination with the diseases of domestic sheep in this northern latitude, their present satisfactory status can be expected to continue. There are only two adverse influences to be feared at present: Poaching, which has already been mentioned, and loss of lambs to the coyote. Wolves, wolverines, lynxes, and golden eagles have undoubtedly taken their annual toll for thousands of years without endangering the survival of the sheep, but the coyote is an added enemy of no small power which might turn the balance. It should be kept out if possible. The incipient invasion of this species in the McKinley district has been discussed on pages 47-49 as a typical example of the problem of invasion of exotics in time national parks. ALASKA MOOSE (Alces gigas). – Moose, to a limited extent, move into the park around timberline and above in the summer. They were seen on a few occasions by the expedition in 1926. Extension of the park to the north would add enough typical moose habitat to make the largest of the deer tribe one of its certain attractions and would help to avert such situations as the one exemplified in the following excerpt from a report on the fauna of the park in February, 1932:37 "The heavy snows which came during the fore part of the month were followed by two days of rain, then below-zero weather, and a heavy crust was formed which has caused untold suffering among all the wild animals in the interior of the park. This is especially true concerning moose. "Their legs from the knee down are worn to the bone, and each moose trail is covered with blood. It is possible to walk right up on moose, as they have not the courage or strength to try and run away. "The tribe of Nenana Indians has been hunting them just north of the boundary line, along the McKinley River, and has driven them up into the park. The ranger in that district reports seeing as many as 15 or 18 in a band." ALASKA BROWN BEAR (Ursus kidderi tundrensis) and TOKLAT GRIZZLY BEAR (Ursus toklat). – Both grizzly and Alaska brown bears are scarce in the park. Bears are anathema to the people of interior Alaska and are killed at every opportunity. It is doubtful if their numbers have increased manyfold since the establishment of the park. They range widely and are probably taken outside the boundaries. It is very desirable that they should increase once more and become safely established in their rightful place among the park fauna. A widening of the narrow inhabitable belt between the high mountains and the present north boundary is about the only measure which will help the bear. MOUNT MCKINLEY TIMBER WOLF (Canis pambasileus). – Among all the national parks in which the timber wolf was once native, Mount McKinley is the only one where it is now definitely known to occur regularly. Whether it will continue in the park in the face of insistent persecution outside is a question; but every effort should be made to save it. The arrival of the coyote as a competitor may further endanger its status. One pair of wolves was observed at Savage River on the 1926 expedition. ALASKA RED Fox (Vulpes alascensis). – The big bright red foxes are especially important in wild-life presentation in this park. Visitors can not be assured of seeing the large game every day but there is always a fox den surrounded by ptarmigan wings and snowshoe rabbit feet where the adult red foxes and their playful pups will hold the attention of the spectators for hours at a time. Here again the coyote looms on the horizon as a dangerous competitor which may largely supplant the red fox unless its spread can be checked.38 MOUNT MCKINLEY WOLVERINE (Gulo hylaeus). – Wolverines in the parks within the United States have been discussed on pages 44-46. There they are either gone or are on such precarious footing that their complete extermination is greatly feared. In Mount McKinley they are still well intrenched. Their value is the greater because of their scarcity elsewhere, and they should be carefully watched. Tracks were seen in Savage River Canyon in 1926. FIGURE 56. – The Alaskan ptarmigan is abundant during certain years and rare at others. Cyclical fluctuations of great intensity are normal for this species and man can not hope, nor should he ever try, to regulate their populations near a constant level. Photograph taken May 25, 1926, on Savage River, Mount McKinley. Courtesy of the Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, University of California, Berkeley, Calif. Mus. Vert. Zool. No. 5112 ALASKA PTARMIGAN (Lagopus lagopus alascensis). – Among the birds the Alaska ptarmigan is the most conspicuous and of greatest appeal to the average visitor, though the fact that rock and white-tailed ptarmigans also occur and that each of the three occupies a distinctive ecological niche is even more interesting to the bird student. The Alaska ptarmigan is one of the species whose fluctuations in numbers are almost as marked as those of the snowshoe rabbit. Their fortunes are followed by the lynxes and the red foxes that are chiefly dependent on them. The normal interrelations and the swing of these cycles should not be disturbed. 37 Monthly Report of Superintendent of Mount McKinley National Park, February, 1932. 38 see pp. 47-49. NEXT> SUGGESTED NATIONAL-PARK POLICY FOR THE VERTEBRATES PARKS Southwest | Rocky Mountain | Pacific Coast | Eastern | Territorial

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