Last Chance for Public Input on the Peel Watershed's Future

Deadline is October 1, 2010

Public input into the Peel watershed process has been very effective in ensuring that the Recommended Plan reflects the public’s desire to see significant protection in the Peel.

Now, as the next part of the planning process, Yukon and First Nation governments are asking for your input on the Peel Watershed’s future before final decisions are made. This is an opportunity to inform governments that you are still committed to your vision of the Peel watershed as a vast tract of wild space.

The Peel Watershed Land Use Planning Commission’s Recommended Plan calls for 80% of the watershed to be protected, with no surface access allowed except in the Dempster Highway corridor.

Affected First Nations, while supportive of the Commission’s work, are calling for protection of the entire Peel Watershed. Take a look at their video in the sidebar of this page.

October 1st is the deadline by which you can tell decision makers that you feel the Planning Commission did a thorough job and whether you feel that the Commission went far enough in recommending 80% protection or whether you support the First Nations' goal of 100% protection for the Peel watershed.

Your input to date helped the Peel Commission recommend major protection for the Peel watershed. Now your voice is needed one more time. Tell the Yukon and First Nations governments to follow through with large scale protection for the Peel!

Suggested Ways to Take Action

1. Write your comments to the Recommended Peel Watershed Regional Land Use Plan on the Yukon Government public consultation website. Read more details below.

2. Attend a public consultation meeting in your community

3. Attend a CPAWS Yukon event. Get inspired. Get informed. Have fun!

Click here for additional background information.

The Yukon Government and affected First Nations are responsible for consulting the public on the Recommended Peel Watershed Regional Land Use Plan, released December 2009. This is the first time governments have asked for direct public input therefore, it is important to participate so they hear first hand how the public envisions the future of the Peel.

From now until October 1st, you can discuss and submit comments on the Recommended Plan to the Peel Consultation website and your input will help guide the future use of the Peel region’s lands and resources.

This website is extensive and is considered a challenge to have the time to navigate through so we provide you with some direction on how to do so.

The website is designed for well informed members of the public who are up to speed on the details of the Recommended Plan. The site is organized into seven key themes or topics about the Plan and embedded in each theme are several related questions.

All postings are to be publicly shared so anyone can view recently or most commonly discussed themes and get a sense of the ongoing discussion.

Please note you have to share your email address in order to post a response, and you have a choice to have a username or not.

We recommend two ways to use this website.

1. Only have a minute or two but want to respond to the Peel Consultation website?

The simplest way is to add your general comments about the Recommended Plan and how you envision the future of the Watershed under:

1. Other Responses and Documents at the bottom of the Peel Consultation homepage
2. Or under the 3rd question in Theme 1: Overview of Recommended Peel Watershed Regional Land Use Plan.

Most importantly, tell the Yukon Government:

• if you are in favour of large scale protection for the Peel Watershed with no roads and no industrial development
• if you think roads and industrial development are compatible with protection
• if you support the First Nations in their call for 100% protection
• if you value the well-being of fish and wildlife and believe they depend on the remote, diverse, undeveloped nature of the Peel Watershed and want it to remain this way
• if you agree with the Commissions’ perspective that managing the Peel watershed in accordance with the vision of sustainable development outlined in the UFA is fundamental to the plan
• if you think all of the Peel Watershed should continue to be withdrawn from new mineral, oil and gas activity while the plan is finalized.

2. Have more time to respond to the Peel Consultation website?

Great! Consider the same key points above. Scroll through the seven themes. Click each and answer the questions within.

In our opinion, themes 1 through 5 are the most important themes on which to comment.

2. Mark your calendars! Attend a Peel Consultation Meeting in your community and speak directly to decision makers about the importance of maintaining a high level of protection in the final Peel Plan. Have your opinions heard directly!

Find a community consultation meeting near you.

Whitehorse - September 15, 2010
Public Consultation 6-9 pm
Yukon Inn Fireside Room

Dawson City - August 23, 2010
Public meeting 3-5pm Drop-in, 7-9 pm Presentation and Discussion at Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in Hall

Mayo - Details to come

Old Crow - August 19, 2010
Public meeting 4:30 - 7:30 p.m. at the North Yukon Renewable Resources Council office

3. As final decisions are mounting, get inspired, get informed, have fun!

Attend a CPAWS Yukon event

Dinner and Discussion
Wednesday, September 15th at 5 pm
CPAWS Yukon office (506 Steele St)
Prior to the Whitehorse Consultation Meeting, come by CPAWS Yukon, share a meal and feel prepared for the public meeting!

Background Information

• Peel Planning Commission’s Summary of the Recommended Peel Watershed Regional Land Use Plan
• CPAWS Yukon and Yukon Conservation Society Condensed Summary of Recommended Peel Watershed Land Use Plan
• Ongoing Conservation Effort to Protect the Peel Watershed
• First Nations Call for Full Protection
• Peel Watershed News

CPAWS Yukon and Yukon Conservation Society Condensed Summary of Recommended Peel Watershed Land Use Plan

August, 2010

On December 2, 2009, the Peel Watershed Planning Commission released their Recommended Plan for the Peel watershed. Thanks to continued efforts by affected First Nations, ENGO’s, tourism organizations, businesses and the public, the Recommended Plan calls for protection of 80.6% of the Peel Watershed.

• Special Management Area (SMA) status is recommended for 80% of the Peel Watershed under a variety of protection tools. This includes the Snake, Bonnet Plume, Wind, and Hart watersheds, and several other ecologically important areas such as the Turner Lake wetlands. No surface access is permitted in these SMAs without a plan amendment. Non industrial surface activities like guiding and outfitting would be allowed in SMAs.

• There are approximately 8,400 existing mining claims in the Peel watershed; most are in the Wind, Snake and Bonnet Plume watersheds. There were about 1,600 claims in the Peel watershed when planning began in 2004. The Yukon government has announced that there will be no compensation or expropriation of existing claims. Therefore the Commission recommends that in SMAs existing mineral claims and oil and gas rights would continue to exist, but further exploration of them and any future development would be limited to air access. The nature of the vast, intact wilderness watershed, wildlife habitat, cultural values and tourism would be better protected if existing claims were removed, but for the time being refusing surface access is a good step toward protection.

• About 20% of the watershed is recommended as Integrated Management Areas (IMAs). Existing and new industrial and non-industrial activities would be allowed in IMAs but no winter or all season access would be allowed except in the Dempster Highway corridor. Most of the IMAs are in the western and northern parts of the Peel watershed.

• The Recommended Plan calls for a sub-regional plan for the Dempster corridor to ensure that First Nations values, wildlife and viewscapes are protected.

• The Wind River Trail was developed as winter access without a permit in the 1950s. Although it is still visible in some places it is not a road. Recently, mining companies have applied to use it as a winter road, claiming that it is existing access. The Recommended Plan calls for the Wind River Trail to no longer be recognized as an existing route, which would mean that it could not be used for industrial activities.

• A moratorium on new staking and oil and gas dispositions in the Peel was declared in February 2010. This moratorium only extends until February 2011. If the planning process goes longer it will be essential to renew the moratorium.

• The Planning Commission followed the vision of sustainable development outlined in the land claims Umbrella Final Agreement as the fundamental basis for the recommended plan, and worked hard to ensure that the Recommended Plan is consistent with the Land Use Planning chapter (Chapter 11) of the Umbrella Final Agreement. Therefore, the plan is consistent with Yukon government legal obligations.

The Peel Land Use Planning Commission did a good job trying to protect First Nations’ traditional values and the environment – but they may have felt that they had to compromise some aspects in order to have the plan accepted by Yukon government. Affected First Nations are calling for protection of 100% of the Peel watershed. Some of the areas that are used and valued most by First Nations are recommended to be Integrated Management Areas because they are close to the Dempster Highway. You can commend the Planning Commission’s work, while supporting the First Nations’ goal of protecting the entire 68,000 square kilometre Peel watershed.

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

Read Peel Watershed conservation updates here.