MAMMOTH HOT SPRINGS - The prospect of wolves wandering through the government housing area here doesn't concern resident Ken Meyer.

"Coyotes concern me more than wolves," the Yellowstone National Park safety manager said Monday, as do rutting bull elk or protective cow elk and bison with calves. He said his family once couldn't leave the house because an aggressive cow elk was outside.

Since the four members of the Canyon wolf pack decided to den less than a mile southeast of the park's headquarters last month, residents, tourists and workers have been living with new neighbors.

"It's great, it's exciting," said Rick Hoeninghausen, director of sales and marketing for Xanterra Resorts.

Xanterra operates the historic Mammoth Hot Springs Hotel, which is ground zero for wildlife in the spring. Hoeninghausen's office is in the hotel.

He saw the wolves while he was driving to work from Gardiner last week, right alongside the road and next to the campground. A black bear sow and cub, a grizzly bear, numerous elk and bison with calves also have been frequenting the area.

"I've been living here since 1998, and I don't remember this much wildlife activity ever," he said. "Wolves are part of it, but they can't take the whole show."

Linda Miller of the park's office of public affairs has worked in the park off and on for 20 years. Since she's largely confined to the office and rarely visits the park during her free time, she hadn't seen a wolf in the park until last week while driving to work.

The four-member Canyon pack has denned in the pine- and sage-covered rolling hills between two roads that fork out of Mammoth - one that travels east to Tower and the other that goes south to Norris. The pack - three males and a female - migrated from the Canyon area, in the park's interior, likely because of the greater availability of game as well as to get away from two competing packs.

On Monday, two of the Canyon pack's gray wolves lolled in the sun atop a hill within sight of 50 head of elk grazing in the distance. A black wolf made occasional appearances, seeming to patrol the area. All were about three-quarters of a mile from the two roads.

The Park Service has acted to prevent people from intruding into the denning area, where the gray female has already given birth to pups. Cars aren't supposed to stop on much of the road between Mammoth and the bridge over the Gardner River. Signs along the road announce the closure, which also includes a large swath of territory between the roads.

Josh Irving of the Yellowstone Wolf Project had an antenna and receiver out Monday to locate the wolves. Parked near the Gardner bridge, beeps from a collar on one of the wolves pinpointed them back in the hills - which is good, he noted. As long as the wolves stay away from the public, park officials are happy. Their concern is that the wolves may become too accustomed to humans and lose their fear. To ensure that doesn't happen, wildlife officials are armed and ready to shoot beanbag rounds or rubber bullets from a 12-gauge shotgun at wolves who venture into developed areas.

"The problem is not the wolves, it's their proximity to Mammoth," Irving said.

Wolves have visited the area before, even making kills close to the park's grade school, but they never denned.

Campers at the Mammoth campground were unaware of the wolves' proximity.

"Should we be concerned?" asked Leeann McDonald of Big Sky.

But her fiancé, Trey Theard, assured her that they would be fine.

Campers Hana Palackova, Petra Cilova and Marek Slampa of the Czech Republic were more concerned about a nearby grizzly bear sighting, growing wide-eyed and quickly considering their dinner of deviled ham sandwiches spread out on the picnic table and their tent set up nearby.

"Oh, no!" Cilova said.

Perhaps the only Mammoth-area resident concerned about the wolves attacking may be a local coyote.

"I think the coyote decided to relocate since the wolves are nearby," Hoeninghausen said of a frequent Mammoth visitor.

Wolves are known to kill coyotes found in their territory.

With business down this spring, Hoeninghausen wouldn't mind if the Canyon wolves increased visitation this spring. Recreational park visits were down 8.4 percent in January through April compared with last year, 95,272 year to date in 2009 year compared to 104,001 in 2008.

Although the weather is unpredictable, there is abundant wildlife and plenty of rooms available, Hoeninghausen noted.

"It's a great opportunity now," he said.

Contact Brett French at french@billingsgazette.com or at 657-1387.