CPAWS Yukon Press Coverage

Two northern First Nations have agreed to work together to protect the waters that flow across both of their traditional lands, in light of increased mining activity in the Peel River area. Mining companies have been exploring for metals and minerals on the Peel River watershed in the Yukon. That has Gwich'in communities, downstream in the Northwest Territories, worried about pollution affecting their drinking water.

Before an oil and gas or tourism company can operate in the Yukon wilderness, they need government approval.

Miners don’t.

“The miner has the right of entry on lands that may contain minerals without getting a permit, without consulting the Crown, without telling the First Nations,” said Karen Baltgailis, the Yukon Conservation Society’s executive director.

Mining companies enjoy special treatment in their exploration activities because of the free-entry system or “free staking.” Click here to read the entire article.

The Yukon government has approved Cash Minerals’ application for a winter road along the Wind River, but has struck down the request for a new airstrip. Marg White, manager of land use for the Department of Energy, Mines and Resources, released her seven-page decision Tuesday afternoon. White explains in the document that it was felt there was not enough information provided to properly assess the environmental and socio-economic impacts of the proposed one-kilometre airstrip beside the Wind River.

Environmental groups fighting a mining company's proposal to build a winter road and airstrip along the Wind River are asking the Yukon government to block the company's bid, arguing that environmental assessors made serious errors in their review. The Yukon Conservation Society and the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society are opposed to the proposal by Cash Minerals to build the 178-kilometre winter road and airstrip in the area, located near Mayo.

The proposal for a winter road to haul supplies up the territory’s Wind River has cascaded into a mammoth debate. It also prompted a second extension until midnight last night to the time allotted by the Yukon Environmental and Socio-economic Assessment Board (YESAB) for public input.

During the past 20 years I have had the good fortune to travel throughout the Peel basin on water and by foot, along the Wind, Snake, Bonnet Plume, Hart, Ogilvie and Blackstone River watersheds, as well as the Peel River itself. These trips revealed to me what many Yukon people already know, and many others are beginning to recognize — the rivers, mountains and boreal ecology of the Peel watershed constitute one of the finest wild places left on the planet. Click here to read the entire commentary.

The proposed winter road along the Wind River by Cash Minerals has whipped up a passionate and heated debate. There have been no fewer than 90 public comments to the Yukon Environmental and Socio-economic Assessment Board (YESAB). Submissions clearly show a gaping division between the environmental conservation community and the pro-mining camp, with no halfway compromise in sight. Conservation groups and supporters suggest that allowing the winter road would be the beginning of the end for one of the last spectacular wilderness areas in the world.

People from as far away as Germany are making a case for and against a proposed winter road in the Wind River area of central Yukon, flooding environmental reviewers with dozens of comments. The Yukon Environmental and Socio-Economic Assessment Board's office in Mayo has received 60 public submissions on the Wind River Trail proposal — more than what it received for all other projects it reviewed this year.

… The exhibition is organized and circulated by The Yukon Art Centre Public Art Gallery. Because Canada has about twenty percent of the world’s remaining intact landscapes, with a sizeable portion in the Yukon, a regional land use plan is urgent. Through the expedition and the exhibition, CPAWS highlights their critical mission.

Yukon’s Three Rivers Journey project was featured on CBC Radio’s Sounds Like Canada, Tuesday morning, December 13th. Shelagh Rogers spoke at length with Juri Peepre and Sarah Locke, co-authors and editors of the new book, Three Rivers: Yukon's Great Boreal Wilderness.

Listen to the interview here. (Real Audio, runs 16:31)

Near the northern extent of the Rocky Mountains, where the Yukon Territory converges on the Peel Plateau and the Arctic Circle sweeps across the map, three great rivers run in rough parallel across a stunning landscape.

Three Rivers: The Yukon’s Great Boreal Wilderness, a small masterpiece released last week by Harbour Publishing, has photographs of the landscape that will take your breath away – and remind you of what it means to be Canadian.

Read the complete review here (subscription required).

CBC Artspots are a series of 30-second works which showcase art and craft made by living Canadian artists. CBC Artspots play on television during commercial breaks in the middle of regular programming. CBC Artspots are accessible and engaging, attracting a broad range of viewers, including those with little art exposure through to those with a great deal of arts knowledge. Read more about the Artspots featuring Three Rivers artists Ron Bolt and Haruko Okano.

With more than 100 protesters and a group of Alaskan politicians in the public gallery, drilling for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge was a major issue in the legislature Wednesday. The demonstrators were there to protest the plans to begin exploration and drilling in part of the refuge for oil and gas. There is a concern that development in the calving grounds of the Porcupine caribou herd could lead to the reduction and eventual disappearance of animals the Gwitchin people in Alaska, the N.W.T. and Yukon have lived off of for generations. Read the full story on the Whitehorse Daily Star Web site.