[6] It was first described in 1905 by the American zoologist Daniel Elliot as Canis pambasileus and with the name "autocrat timber wolf", based on a specimen from the Susitna River, Mount McKinley region, Alaska.

[13] This wolf is native to the interior of Alaska, United States, and the Yukon, Canada save for the tundra region of the Arctic Coast.

[12] The diet of this wolf varies by region – moose is the main prey in southern Yukon, followed by boreal woodland caribou and Dall sheep.

Dall sheep are common prey in Kluane Game Sanctuary and National Park when moose and caribou are not available.

The planning group also set forth methods of increasing public awareness of the importance of wolves and making more strict wolf hunting laws.

[17][18] The first control program was started because of observations and complaints by the people of Ross River that the Filayson herd of caribou has been declining in size.

In order to test if a concurrent effort would have a greater effect, hunting any caribou in the herd was also limited and controlled by a strict permit system.

Since the end of the program, the number of caribou has begun to steadily decline, though the health of the herd remained stable regardless.

[16][21] Subsequently, it could be decided that the major limiting factor in terms of the population growth of these species is attributed to predation by the Yukon wolf.

[16] In 1994, during the study, a big game outfitter was convicted in court of attempting to convince guides in the area to place poison on the ground.

[16] The third study and control program under the Yukon Wolf Plan began under the insistence of the White River and the Kluane First Nation in regards to the Chisana caribou herd that roamed around the Saint Elias Mountains in the area.

[19] Both the government and the local community were against enacting another aerial wolf hunting program and, so, the Yukon wolves were left alone in the area.

It was initiated within only a few hours after the Alaska Department of Fish and Game told the National Park Service that such an effort was going to be undertaken in the area around Tanana.

[22] Before the hunt began, the National Park Service released a statement that said that, if the hunting plan was continued to completion, "this would leave one-to-two wolves per 1,000 square kilometers in the Upper Yukon Wolf Control Area, approximating the lowest known wolf population densities in Alaska.