News Release

Kaska Dena and CPAWS-Yukon Host Successful Northern Gathering On Yellowstone to Yukon Conservation Initiative

October 6, 2003 – Participants from 15 communities representing 25 aboriginal and conservation organizations in the Yukon, Northwest Territories and BC met on the banks of the Dease River in Kaska Dena traditional territory, to talk about conservation and land use in the northern reaches of the Yellowstone to Yukon Conservation Initiative. The Yellowstone to Yukon Conservation Initiative is an organization with more than 250 member groups focused on, “people working together to maintain and restore the unique natural heritage of the Yellowstone to Yukon region.”

The workshop, co-hosted by the Yukon Chapter of the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society (CPAWS-Yukon), and the Kaska Dena, tackled pressing questions on achieving conservation results in the northern mountains, while building successful communities; and, on the effective use of both traditional knowledge and science in making land use decisions.

Highlights of the meeting included the Deh Cho First Nations’ inspiring success story in the NWT to protect their traditional territory, including a strategy to support a major expansion of Nahanni National Park. On the Yukon and BC side of the mountains, Dave Porter spoke on behalf of the Kaska Tribal Council on their forward-looking approach to resource planning, including strong provisions for conservation and the role of local land stewards. The Kaska Dena are partners in the vast Muskwa-Kechika Management Area in northern BC, a leading conservation initiative that incorporates both large protected areas and special management zones that allow for appropriate development.

Wildlife biologist John Weaver of Montana, described his work assessing grizzly bear habitat and movements in the Nahanni region, while Norm Baricello introduced the Kaska Traditional Knowledge Protocol. Carole Stark of Alberta’s Chinook Institute addressed the links between communities, conservation and economic development in the Yellowstone to Yukon region. Wendy Francis, conservation biologist Marcy Mahr and outreach coordinator Jeff Gailus showed how the Yellowstone to Yukon Conservation Initiative would support local conservation efforts.

The more than 60 workshop delegates also heard from the Tetl’it Gwich’in of Ft. McPherson, with the only formally approved land use plan in the northern part of the Yellowstone to Yukon region. Three land use planning commissions are underway in the Yukon – in the Teslin, North Yukon, and Peel watershed regions. In addition to land use planning by First Nations, the NWT is also implementing their protected areas strategy. The Yukon government ceased work on the Yukon Protected Areas Strategy almost a year ago.

In the call to work together on conservation and land use planning in the northern Yellowstone to Yukon region, workshop participants were both optimistic about the remarkable opportunities, and realistic about the many challenges. The role of non-government organizations in supporting these efforts was emphasized, along with the importance of more youth engagement in the Yellowstone to Yukon region. The Dene Youth Alliance made a powerful appeal to workshop participants for support in their conservation efforts in the north.

Supporters of the Yellowstone to Yukon Conservation Initiative workshop included the Wilburforce Foundation, Walter and Duncan Gordon Foundation, and the Canadian Boreal Initiative, along with CPAWS-Yukon and the Kaska Tribal Council.