Visitors are more likely to spot wolves in Denali National Park and Preserve in Alaska when a protective no-hunting buffer is established in the animal's habitat outside the park, according to a new study published in the journal PLOS ONE. It found that when the 122-square-mile buffer was in place between 2000 and 2010, the likelihood of seeing a wolf was twice as great as when the buffer zone was absent. The Alaska Board of Game established the protective zone on state-managed land along the park's eastern and northern edges in 2000, banning wolf killing there. But the debate over the impacts of hunting and trapping outside park borders has long been discussed, and in 2010 the board eliminated the designation and placed a six-year ban on any potential resurrection of the program.
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