News Release

One of Yukon’s Crown Jewels One Step Closer to Protection

October 1, 1999 – Whitehorse, Yukon – The Yukon chapter of the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society congratulates the Tombstone Steering Committee for their hard work and dedication that led to strong recommendations on boundaries for the new park at Tombstone Mountain and the Blackstone Uplands. CPAWS-Yukon supports the Committee’s findings that a park of 223,270 hectares is needed to protect the ecological and cultural features of this remarkable landscape. A park of this size is consistent with the goals of the Tr’on dek Hwech’in as set out in their land claim agreement.

“We’re one step closer to protecting one of the Yukon’s most valued crown jewels,” said Juri Peepre, chair of CPAWS-Yukon and co-ordinator of the local World Wildlife Fund Endangered Spaces campaign.

“It’s now up to the Yukon government to live up to their election promise and create a legacy park at Tombstone Mountain and the Blackstone Uplands. We urge Minister Eric Fairclough and the government leader, Piers McDonald, to respect the work of the public Committee and endorse a park of 223,270 hectares,” added Peepre.

The Tombstone Mountain Steering Committee was unable to deal with the issue of active mining claims in the park area, a situation created by the failure of the Yukon government to provide adequate interim protection. Numerous mining claims were staked in the area after the government announced its intentions to enlarge the park.

“Mining has no place in this or any other core protected area in the Yukon. That’s the government’s own policy. The Yukon government allowed the mining claim mess at Tombstone to happen. Now they have to fix the problem and tell us how they will make sure the park is for wildlife, not industrial development,” said Peepre.

Juri Peepre
CPAWS-Yukon
Telephone: 867-393-8080