Denali Rapture - Denali and myself on a timer. Ruth Glacier/Denali National Park/Interior Alaska/Spring

8-21-24 Update

This morning I was alerted by Ryan Creed (TWT Guide/Driver) that my TWT Guide video  A Grizzly Itch had been written about in an article. 

You can find this article here: https://unofficialnetworks.com/2024/08/20/grizzly-bear-cubs-scratch-an-epic-itch-on-denali-national-park-wildlife-sign/?fbclid=IwY2xjawEzGj5leHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHQ_4mfTZNlYJk2fD0SvsHDN0I1rYtjBGthYB4sPWzFe5ynp8mcJh8G7pYg_aem_Fe-_GovhLVnDcnxhPuZ7bA  which has the video embedded. 

By the way, I suspect that when this sign is eventually replaced, that NPS will put nails into again to discourage the bears from biting chunks of wood out of it. If one looks at the Sable Pass elevation sign, is has nails on the bottom of it, so I don't believe there is any new policy banning the use of nails in signs.

More videos can be found on my YouTube Channel here: https://www.youtube.com/@Bill-Watkins-Photo

TWT Guide Video Designation

There are two designations with the videos on my YouTube channel: the first is TWT Guide and the second is D780. 

TWT Guide videos are taken while I am working as a Tundra Wilderness Tour guide in Denali National Park, Alaska. These videos are hand held, taken from the bus that I am driving, and sometimes (like in A Grizzly Itch video) are taken through the windshield with the windshield wiper moving back and forth. 

Additionally, if I use allot of digital zoom on the camera (due to a distant animal), the picture quality of the video significantly decreases. 

These are lower quality videos but show what we may have seen on any given tour. I am generally picky about what I video unless it is a rare sighting such as wolves, wolverine, lynx, etc or unusual behavior. 

If we see any of those subjects, I will try to take any video I can get regardless of whether the quality is poor. In the above cases, beggars can’t be choosy. 

D780 Video Designation

The D780 designation signifies far higher quality videos that I have taken on my own time, with my Nikon equipment and where usually the cameras and lenses are mounted on a tripod to insure rock solid stability and quality. 

None of the D780 videos are taken from a bus or through a windshield, etc. 

Additionally, with the addition of a Rode VideoMic NTG microphone, I am hoping for far better quality audio from these videos in the future.  

Currently, I have a backlog of both high quality stills and TWT Guide videos that need to be edited. And with the videos, I will need to eventually decide in how to showcase them in either an educational or celebratory way with narration possibly added to them. 

And furthermore, there are the thousands of still film images that are in storage that I will be selectively choosing for scanning, processing and uploading to the website in the late fall. 

So, there is allot to do without even being behind a camera; which of course is the best part of photography. 

Lastly, I have booked a photography trip after the season ends (mid September to early October) which I will detail in a later post.  

Update Summary: 7-26-2024

On February 26, 2024, I submitted extensive written comments to the Alaska Board of Game in support of NPS Proposal 186 to protect Denali’s Wolves in The Wolf Townships (state lands adjacent to Denali). See: Protect Denali's Wolves in The Wolf Townships - Support Proposal 186

Additionally, I wrote an editorial that was published in the Fairbanks News Miner on March 8, 2024 titled: Protecting Denali's Wolves is a Benefit for All

In case you can’t read it, I posted the full comments in my Blog here: https://billwatkins.photography/blog/protecting-denalis-wolves-is-a-benefit-for-all

Furthermore, I gave oral testimony before the Alaska Board of Game in Fairbanks on March 15, 2024 in favor of Proposal 186 which I filmed and can be found here: 3-15-2024 - Alaska Board of Game Testimony on Proposal 186 - Protecting Denali's Wolves  

After giving testimony, I left Fairbanks but would later check with the Alaska Wildlife Alliance to see if any representatives from the Alaska Tourism Industry gave testimony on behalf of Denali's wolves and the visitor and National Park experience? None had. 

In my view, this points out a serious deficiency within the Alaska Tourism Industry that while they are more than willing to profit off visitors they are not willing to support living wildlife that visitors come to Alaska to see and enjoy. 

This is an area that the industry needs to improve on. 

Supporting living wildlife through tangible actions such as working with The Alaska Wildlife Alliance, the Denali Citizens Council or other environmental groups that support wildlife preservation and viewing should be inherent to Alaska tourism. Furthermore, testifying on behalf of National Park proposals (or allying with those who do) that are to enhance the visitor experience should be inherent to any tourism operation.  

Supporting NPS Proposal 186 should have been an easy slam dunk for the industry; yet they bailed. 

The following week after I testified, the all hunter/trapper Alaska Board of Game voted down in a 0-7 vote NPS Proposal 186. Consequently, Denali's wolves are not protected on adjacent state lands and this is a significant and contributing reason why wolf viewing in 2019, 2022 and 2023 has been at 1%. 

This year, there have been sporadic sightings of single wolves and I myself have had one sighting.      See handheld TWT video: 7-12-24 Igloo Canyon Wolf Sighting

Would it have made a difference if the industry had testified? No, it wouldn't. But it would have showed support for the National Park Service, Denali's wolves and the visitor and national park experience. 

Another example is opposing the Mulchatna Massacre where the state is actively killing (via shooting from a helicopter) grizzly and black bears (including females with cubs) and wolves over the past two years (2023 & 2024) is another failure where the industry's silence is deafening. 

See Doug Peacock's article: The Coming War on Grizzly Bears

Or, perhaps the biggest and most controversial ask: publicly come out against recreational trapping and refusing to sell any furs. 

The reasons are many which I have detailed in my video: Why Trapping Should be Banned in Alaska . 

In my view, any tourism business that sells furs is endorsing and is complicit in the torture, maiming and killing of wildlife and pet dogs and furthermore, is in active opposition to wildlife viewing and the visitor/National Park experience. 

Ethics and profits can go hand in hand; one does not have to exclude the other. While the industry may wish to dodge and weave around controversial topics that involve wildlife, wildlife is inherent to the Alaska visitor experience. 

I believe that those businesses that openly support living wildlife, visitor viewing and our National Parks are in an advantageous position against businesses that do not. 

This is only my opinion but this opinion is based on 36 years within the Alaska Tourism Industry and taking over 100,000 visitors into Denali National Park for what is now 34.5 years. 

Podcast Interviews: 

May 8th, 2024 - The Wolf Connection Podcast - Bill Watkins - Denali Wolf Tourism Impacts 

This interview with myself delves deeply into the Denali wolf controversy as well as the recent Alaska Board of Game's 0-7 decision in rejecting NPS Proposal 186 which would have protected Denali's wolves in the adjacent state lands called: The Wolf Townships. This 0-7 vote took place in spite of testimony relaying the importance of wolves to literally the hundreds of thousands of visitors who visit Denali each year. 

April 10, 2024 - Wilderness & Wildlife Podcast w/Jay Shell - Interview with Bill Watkins from Denali National Park

This interview with myself discusses a number of topics of being a tour guide in Denali as well as the park wolf situation.

On July 29, 2022, I was interviewed for A Good Wolf documentary by Ramey Newell. This documentary will shed light on the ongoing Denali wolf controversy between those who wish to continue killing Denali’s wolves as they leave the park (undermining National Park protections and visitor viewing) and those who wish to protect them on adjacent state lands.

See: A Good Wolf Documentary Trailer

I thought the interview went well but at this time (January 2024) I honestly don’t know whether any portion of my interview will be included in the film.

What is most important is the communication from the environmental community stating our position and how it benefits wolves, the park and visitors. 

And furthermore how our position  supports the very purpose of National Parks of preservation and visitor enjoyment. This is in stark contrast to the extremists in the hunting and trapping community who support the killing of Denali Wolves, the undermining of National Park protections and the subversion of the visitor experience.

Ideally, this documentary will shine a bright flood light on the damaging of National Park protections and build interest in supporting both wolves and the visitor experience for up to 600,000+ visitors (pre-covid) per year in Denali.

This documentary played at the Mountainfilm Festival in Telluride, Colorado earlier this year. 


Quoting from L. David Mech: 

"If the wolf is to survive, the wolf haters must be outnumbered. They must be outshouted, out financed, and out voted. Their narrow and biased attitude must be outweighed by an attitude based on an understanding of natural processes."

If you wish to experience and enjoy wolves within National Parks, then you have to protect them in the areas that are adjacent to them.

All the best.

Bill Watkins

The following are samples of my environmental work: 

3-15-2024 - 
Video - Alaska Board of Game Testimony on Proposal 186 to Protect Denali's Wolves

3-7-2024 - Editorial - Protecting Denali's Wolves is a benefit for all

4-20-2023 - Editorial - Alaska, not the federal government, is over reaching on game management

2-23-2023 - Comments on 2023 - Revised NPS Hunting/Trapping Rules for Alaska National Preserves

10-9-2019 - Editorial - Lets Talk Problems in Denali National Park 

10-6-2019 - Editorial - Park proposal would destroy Denali's natural experience

8-7-2019 - Article - Alaskan group wants an end to wolf hunting near Denali National Park

8-5-2019 - Article - Battle over wolf hunting on Denali boundary continues

7-29-2019 - Article - Looking to see a wolf at Denali? A grass-roots bus driver survey puts the odds at "not-quite non existent"

8-7-2016 - Editorial - Denali wildlife management needs compassion

                                          October 2001 - Arctic Refuge Press Conference

In the fall of 2001, the issue of Arctic Refuge (Arctic National Wildlife Refuge) was in the news. The drivers of Denali (members of Teamsters 959) had taken an informal survey where 78 out of 80 drivers favored wilderness status for the Coastal Plain (1002 area) of Arctic Refuge. This was in direct opposition to the majority of Teamsters 959 who favored development. 

Myself and Jeff Forsythe traveled to Washington DC working through the Northern Environmental Center in Fairbanks. I spoke after Senators Wellstone, Kerry, Lieberman and Reid and the Labor Representatives attending. 

There were Teamster reps who approached us before the press conference and Jeff who was planning to stay incognito - then introduced himself; I found that to be........quite humorous. I would return again in the Spring of 2002, but interest in this issue was ebbing at that time. 

The hat that I am wearing is a Teamster 959 hat.

More images from this press conference can be found here: 

October 2001, Washington DC - Arctic Refuge Press Conference Images