Editorial

The Yukon: Still Home to Canada’s Pristine Boreal Forest

November 12, 2004

Why do you live in the Yukon? Were you were born here? Did you move here because a great job opportunity came along, or because you wanted a northern lifestyle? Something brought you here.

Why do you choose to stay in the Yukon? I have often heard stories from people who came for the summer and never left. Do you choose to live here because of your community, the friendly people who smile as you pass them on the street, your work, or your family? Or, do you choose to live in the Yukon for the vast, largely intact wilderness of this northern, wild part of Canada and its natural beauty of mountains, boreal forest and clean flowing water that you enjoy?

All or none of these reasons could be why you chose to live in the Yukon. For me it’s the latter reason; the expanse of wilderness from mountain chains and their alpine ridges to valley bottoms that call out to be enjoyed, appreciated and protected. I also believe that we have a chance to do things right here by developing a network of protected areas that maintains healthy populations of the whole range of species, animals, plants and ecosystems. We have a grand opportunity to make this happen, in this place we call home!

Theresa Gulliver of CPAWS Yukon and author James Raffan celebrate the publication of Rendezvous with the Wild: The Boreal Forest

Monday night (November 8, 2004) at the Beringia Centre, over 250 people gathered to hear this message and contemplate the present state and future of Canada’s and the Yukon’s boreal forest. The True North Wild and Free event was a follow up to the Boreal Rendezvous – a series of trips during the summer of 2003 down 10 of Canada’s spectacular rivers – and the resulting book, Rendezvous with the Wild: The Boreal Forest. The book is full of photos, essays, poems and songs from many of the prominent Canadians who participated in the 10 river trips. Four of those rivers are here in the Yukon: the Wind, Snake, Bonnet Plume (also known as the Three Rivers of the Peel Watershed) and the Coal River of the SE Yukon, where most of the Yukon’s boreal forest lies.

The boreal forest comprises 77% of Canada’s forest land and extends 12,000 kilometres in a 1000-km wide band from the Yukon to Labrador.

Almost all of the Yukon, except the North Slope, is considered to be within the larger boreal region, which includes boreal forest and associated subalpine and alpine areas. Approximately 57% of the Yukon is considered to be boreal forest. The boreal forest cloaks almost all of the SE Yukon, the most heavily forested region of the territory. Yet only 16 km2 is formally protected. There is a compelling need for a network of protected areas that includes all ecologically important areas within the SE Yukon.

The Coal River falls in the heart of SE Yukon’s boreal forest.
Photo by Juri Peepre

More than half of the world’s forest cover has already been lost. The Yukon is one of very few places fortunate to still have expanses of pristine boreal forest. The sad reality across most of southern Canada is that the opportunity to protect wilderness is almost gone. This wilderness right here in our own backyard is of global significance. Buccaneering oil and gas, mining, and logging companies have made their mark across this country. But unsustainable and short-term industrial development cannot support healthy communities in the long run.

By taking an ecosystem-based approach to resource development in the SE Yukon, we can ensure that important ecological and enduring features are considered first and foremost. Then we can determine where and how responsible resource industries can develop and sustain Yukon communities and the boreal forest for the long term. This requires integrated land-use planning that allows the voices of the public to be heard and listened to.

In the SE Yukon, resource planning has commenced with a government and Kaska appointed group called the Kaska Forest Resources Stewardship Council. I commend this council for their efforts to date. Right now, they are collecting information to contribute to an ecosystem-based plan for the Southeast. The council is responsible for making recommendations to government on resource use and planning in the Yukon portion of the Kaska Traditional Territory.

I urge you to contribute information and opinion to the ongoing resource planning in the SE, pay attention to the recommendations and documents developed by this council and monitor government’s response to the recommendations. This is our chance to actively contribute to resource planning and to determine the future of a unique and biologically diverse part of the Yukon, which deserves adequate protection for all of its inhabitants.

There will come a time, in parts of Canada, when wilderness – the archive of life on earth – is restricted to the areas we have set aside to be protected. Let’s act now so clean water, fresh air, abundant wildlife, and spruce and pine boreal forests that we enjoy here in the Yukon today can be passed on in a healthy state to future generations. Let’s act now and be proud of what we stood for, what we believed in and why we chose to call the Yukon home!