Short-term response of Gray Wolves, Canis lupis, to wildfire in Northwestern Alaska

There is a paucity of data concerning the effects of wildfires on large car nivores. During summer 1988 a wildfire burned 845 km(2) of taiga forest wit hin the territory of two radiocollared Gray Wolf (Canis lupus) packs in nor thwest Alaska. We contrasted their use of areas that were burned with areas that were not burned before, during, :and after fire. Wolves used the area that was later burned disproportionately more than expected before the fir e. During and after (i.e., remainder of summer) the fire, they used the bur ned area more than expected during summer, but as expected during winter. T hree years after the fire wolves began using the burned area similarly to t heir use before the fire; up until that time, wolves used the burned area l ess than it had been used prior to the burn. We attributed the changes in w olf distribution to changes in ungulate availability which were probably ca used by the wildfire.