Announcement

Strong, conservation-oriented Peel Watershed Plan recommended by Planning Body
CPAWS-Yukon Celebrates with all Conservationists

February, 2010

The Yukon Government has issued interim protection for the entire Peel Watershed in the form of a one-year withdrawal from mineral staking and for the issuance of further subsurface rights to oil & gas and coal. Learn more here.

What’s Up?

On December 2, 2009, the Peel Watershed Planning Commission released their Recommended Plan for the Peel watershed. We opened the plan with much trepidation and anticipation – finally, after all this time, we would see if the Commission had heard what Yukoners had to say about the Peel watershed.

We have great news to share! The Recommended Plan calls for protection of 80.6% of the Peel Watershed. This is a huge step forward for conservation in the region, and positions the Peel to remain globally significant as a roadless, pristine, wilderness area. Whew! We raised our glasses and took a moment to feel fantastic about the new plan. A few important components of the plan:

1. Special Management Area (SMA) status is recommended for 80% of the Peel Watershed under a variety of protection management tools. No surface access is permitted in these SMAs without a plan amendment.
2. The Snake River watershed is recommended for full-on, flat-out protection. The entire Bonnet Plume, Wind, and Hart watersheds are recommended for SMA designations.
3. Several other ecologically important areas such as the Turner Lake wetlands are recommended for full protection. We think this will be a big topic with the migratory birds who rely on this area every year.
4. Existing mineral claims will continue to exist, even in protected areas, but exploration is limited to air access.

Whilst we would prefer to see the long term importance of the region honored fully by removing existing mineral claims, it is rare in conservation work to feel such a sense of achievement and hope. Our sense of satisfaction comes not only from the very tangible conservation gains in the recommended plan, but also stems from knowing that we got this far the hard way – we slowly built a coalition of voices over time, kept finding more and more common ground, and in the end, more than 73% of Yukoners, and many, many other Canadians agreed with us that significant protection of the Peel was the only way forward. We thank the Planning Commission for their hard work and commitment to moving forward on the vision of sustainable development that is articulated in the Umbrella Final Agreement.

What’s Next?

The Recommended Plan now becomes the subject of consultations between representatives of the Yukon and First Nation governments. Of course the public’s continued expression of support for protection remains important as these parties negotiate towards a final plan. It is important at this stage that the Yukon Government is encouraged to accept the strengths in the plan, as a starting point. Two of the affected First Nations continue to call for full protection of the entire watershed, and their wishes need to be reflected in the final plan.

Secondly, a moratorium on further mineral staking in areas proposed for protection needs to be imposed now. The Planning Commission has recommended a moratorium, and it is within the Yukon Government’s powers to do this. We can all call upon Premier Dennis Fentie to demonstrate his commitment to the process by halting staking now and avoiding further conflict later. Failure to do so will bring into question whether the Yukon is acting in good faith, and will undermine the planning process mandated by the Yukon’s First Nations Final Agreements.

CPAWS-Yukon will continue to work in a very focused and determined manner through 2010, to build on the Recommended Plan. We will coordinate with CPAWS members, other conservation groups, and partners to keep everyone informed as the plan moves forward.

In closing, we thank all of you for your support, financial contributions, letters to the Commission and Yukon Government, and for speaking with your friends and contacts. We have accomplished a great deal together, as Yukoners and Canadians interested in protecting vast wilderness ecosystems. Momentum for this kind of protection in the Yukon has built over many years, and continues to gather speed towards the realization of protection for a truly big, wild place, the Peel Watershed. We still have a long way to go before we see protection in the Peel accepted and implemented, but we are today standing at a major achievement in our work with these very strong recommendations from the Planning Commission.

Wilderness canoeists enjoy the Peel Watershed’s Wind River.
Photo by Theresa Gulliver