Earlier this month, Denali’s newest litter of sled dog puppies stepped into the harness — not for a sled, but for a special weigh-in. It was streamed online for “Chunky Puppy Day,” the park’s playful spin on Katmai’s popular Fat Bear Week.
As chunky as the puppies got — fan-favorite Mammoth weighed in at almost 80 lbs. — the program is looking at a skinnier budget going forward.
The Washington Post reported last month that the Trump administration had blocked about 140 National Park projects, worth at least $25 million. Denali National Park and Preserve lost $90,000 that supported three sled dog program internships, which the park ran in collaboration with the nonprofit Student Conservation Association.
The Center for Western Priorities, an environmental advocacy organization based in Colorado, maintains a database of Interior Department financial documents related to the cuts, including at Denali National Park.
An Interior Department spokesperson told the Washington Post the department canceled agreements with groups that were “actively working against the best interests of the American people and the priorities of this administration.”
Park staff say Denali’s sled dogs are part of a living tradition
David Tomeo manages Denali’s sled dog kennel. He told KUAC in an interview this spring — unrelated to the funding cuts — that rangers have run dogs in the park for more than a hundred years, and the program is a huge draw for visitors.
Tomeo recalled getting a letter about the Puppy Cam livestream from a family in Florida this winter.
“Their entire family was watching the puppy cam,” he said. “And the mother who wrote it said, ‘My kids sneak the iPad into their bed, and they're watching the Puppy Cam underneath the covers at night, and we have to go take the iPad away from them.’”
Tomeo said maintaining the kennel helps educate visitors on a way of life that’s existed in Alaska for at least a thousand years.
He said the dogs play an important role in preserving the park’s fragile wilderness areas by providing staff a low-impact, effective means of transportation in winter. That could be something like helping a trail crew haul timber to a work area or transporting scientists to a research site.
The Center for Western Priorities database says the Interior Department also blocked two other collaborative projects in Alaska: a $50,000 grant that would have supported internships at the Bering Land Bridge National Preserve, and an $84,000 grant that would have helped preserve archeological collections from the Western Arctic Parklands.
Park officials did not respond to multiple requests for comment.