Conservation Updates
Read why the Three Rivers are important
CPAWS Yukon expresses concerns over
mineral development scenarios affecting the Peel Watershed
What's happening in and around the Peel Watershed?
Rocks in the Peel River canyon,
important habitat for Peregrine Falcon
Photo by Juri Peepre
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November-December, 2006
Wind River Trip Draw Prize Winners
Donald Flute of Kelowna won the first draw held last spring. We will announce the winner of the second draw on May 15, 2007. Both Donald and the other lucky draw winner will be heading up to the Yukon to paddle the Wind River this coming summer. Congratulations!
What's happening in the Three Rivers and Peel Watershed?
CPAWS-Yukon perseveres in its work to protect the Three Rivers wilderness and to maintain the ecological integrity of the Greater Peel Watershed. After a successful CPAWS tour to northern communities in June, local people asked us to help coordinate a community gathering planned for winter 2007, to discuss together their vision for the future of the Peel watershed. Earlier this year, in response to the Peel Planning Commission's call for public comment, we submitted a proposal for protected areas in the Peel watershed based on conservation science, and supported by an economic rationale.
The Three Rivers multimedia show is going across Canada April to May 2007 on an 11-city tour that will highlight the national significance of this pristine mountain boreal wilderness. The tour, along with the new book, Three Rivers: the Yukon's Great Boreal Wilderness, will inspire Canadians to take action for the Three Rivers while promoting conservation of our country’s entire boreal forest. A lot is happening! Learn more about how you can stay involved, hear about our work to protect the Three Rivers (see below) and consider “shopping CPAWS” this holiday season!
CPAWS-Yukon continues to work with northern communities
As a result of our Three Rivers northern community tour to Mayo, Ft.McPherson, and Inuvik in June 2006, CPAWS-Yukon is coordinating a Peel watershed community gathering to take place in Mayo, Yukon early in 2007. With Mayo and Ft. McPherson Renewable Resource Councils, local First Nation representatives and community members from the Mackenzie delta to Mayo, the gathering aims to bring people together to develop a shared conservation vision for the the Peel Watershed. With land use planning well underway in the Peel, this timely gathering organized by CPAWS in cooperation with northern communities, will help local people make a valuable contribution to the work of the Peel Land Use Planning Commission.
Click here to learn more about the June 2006 Northern Community Tour.
And stay tuned for more details about the Peel Watershed Community Gathering!
Three Rivers goes national
Over the past winter and spring, the Three Rivers multimedia tour and book launch hosted by Juri Peepre visited 12 Canadian cities and towns in Ontario and British Columbia. CPAWS-Yukon thanks the many local partners who made these events possible, including naturalist and canoe clubs. The Three Rivers: wild waters, sacred places art exhibition was also displayed, to rave reviews, in five public galleries.
Please stay tuned, there is plenty more to come with an 11-city cross-Canada Three Rivers tour shaping up for April-May 2007. Watch for the schedule on the CPAWS-Yukon website as the tour visits the Maritimes, Quebec, Ontario, the Prairies and an encore in British Columbia. Juri Peepre and guests will share the beauty and splendor of the Three Rivers with Canadians from Yellowknife to Halifax and all major urban centres in between. By sharing powerful experiences from the Three Rivers with Canadians from coast to coast, we hope to inspire many to take action on protecting this and other magnificent northern boreal watersheds.
Stay tuned via the CPAWS Yukon Events Calendar.
Economics and conservation go hand in hand
In the Yukon, we can have an economy where we draw from the resources of the land while making sure our “natural capital” remains intact. Pristine wildlands, free ranging wildlife and clean mountain rivers such as those of the Peel watershed are becoming rare in North America and around the world. We believe we have a responsibility to pass these wonders of nature on to future generations – moreover they are an important economic asset today for nearby communities.
For these reasons and more, CPAWS-Yukon is making the economic case for conservation in the Peel watershed. Land use planning provides communities with an opportunity to thoroughly consider the broad range of economic development opportunities available. Land use planning that supports conservation areas will protect natural assets required for a diverse and strong local economy.
Protected areas make a valuable contribution to a diverse economy. By providing local employment and fostering related businesses, protected areas can directly benefit the local economy and support long-lasting economic development.
For example, 2006 was a record year for the number of visitors to the Wind River. Did you know that by a conservative estimate of numbers of existing commercial and private canoe or raft trips on the Hart, Wind, Bonnet Plume and Snake Rivers, users spend up to $850,000 per year? If visitor use increased by 50% (a reasonable number with careful management), well over 1 million dollars would be spent per year – just on river trips.
And there’s more. Existing spending on guided hunting, which also depends on wilderness, is estimated to range from $1.5 to $1.8 million annually. Neither of these estimates include visitor spending on products that feature the wilderness and wildlife of the Peel watershed and Three Rivers, for example books, art, outdoor equipment or photography. There is much potential for further development of products related to the natural features of the Peel watershed, which in turn could be a significant source of income for small community businesses.
Conservation Science
CPAWS-Yukon’s very own conservation biologist, Dr. Jim Pojar, applied current research to develop a scientific rationale for protection of three intact, mountain-boreal watersheds – the Wind, Snake and Bonnet Plume – with connecting conservation lands. We propose a conservation strategy that includes a core protected wilderness area in the Three Rivers watersheds, along with special conservation zones elsewhere in the Greater Peel Watershed to protect critical wetlands, sensitive river corridors and other important biological and cultural features. The core wilderness area is approximately 30,000 km2, big enough to support species and ecological processes that depend on intact ecosystems, and a sufficiently large theatre to accommodate the drama of climate change.
The CPAWS proposal is similar in scale of protected lands to the Muskwa-Kechika Management Area of northern BC, and is in line with the conservation plan the Deh Cho First Nations have proposed for their territory in the Nahanni region of the Northwest Territories.
The Conservation Plan for the Peel Watershed has been tabled with the Peel Land Use Planning Commission, at their request.
Peel Land Use Planning Commission continues their work
The Peel Watershed Planning Commission was established in 2004 under the terms of the land claim agreements of the Nacho Nyak Dun, Gwich'in, Trondek Hwech'in, and Vuntut Gwitchin First Nations. The Commission is made up of nominees of the First Nations and Yukon governments. One aspect of the Commission’s mandate is to promote sustainable development, which is defined as beneficial socioeconomic change that does not undermine the ecological and social systems upon which societies and communities are dependent. In their work, they are to use the knowledge and experience of all residents of the planning region. They are to promote the cultural values and well-being of the First Nation people of the planning region, as well as the interests of other residents of the planning region and all Canadians.
A draft plan is due in December 2008. The Commission has completed an Issues and Interests Report and criteria and indicators for a conservation priorities assessment. Supplementary documents to the Commission’s work include fisheries information, a mining scenarios report and oil and gas exploration and development model.
The Issues and Interests Report, with input from 30 stakeholders on issues requiring consideration during planning, does not identify conservation as a “theme” in its own right. CPAWS-Yukon urged the Commission to reconsider and truly reflect the interests and values of several organizations and the majority of Yukoners who support conservation in the Peel. A June 2006 poll by CPAWS-Yukon showed that more than 60% of Yukon people support protection of the Three Rivers and a conservation oriented land use plan in the greater Peel watershed.
CPAWS-Yukon was also concerned with the inherent bias in the Mineral Development Scenarios report that the highest and best use of the land is mining. While we believe in multiple land uses, we also believe it is necessary to adequately consider whether mineral resources are economically viable in a global context and give due consideration to the multiple conservation values of the Peel Watershed.
Much work still lies ahead. The next phases of planning include completion of a conservation priorities assessment and resource assessment prior to drafting land use scenario options. The conservation assessment and resource assessment are expected to be released in April 2008. Land use scenarios will be drafted over the summer months with a draft land use plan released by the end of 2008.
CPAWS-Yukon is reviewing and commenting on all planning materials and maintains contact with the Peel Commission and the First Nations involved in the planning process. The land claim agreements established strong provisions for the consideration of First Nation values, as well as the interests of all residents of the Yukon. CPAWS is advocating for an effective process that engages the full range of interests in the dialogue about creating a future for the Peel Watershed that sustains the ecological and social systems on which we depend. CPAWS is bringing our conservation vision to this dialogue.
You too can stay involved!
Through this public process, you can tell the Commission what you think the future of the Three Rivers and Peel Watershed should look like.
The pristine Peel watershed and Three Rivers are the northern anchor of the Yellowstone to Yukon Conservation Initiative (Y2Y). These remarkable watersheds are a vast ecological benchmark and could be a climate change sanctuary, important to the Y2Y region but also of global value. This winter and next spring, the Three Rivers show will visit the U.S. part of Y2Y in Montana, Wyoming and Colorado. Contact Juri Peepre at jpeepre@yahoo.ca, if you would like the Three Rivers show to visit your community in 2007.
“Three Rivers: The Yukon’s Great Boreal Wilderness, a small masterpiece released … by Harbour Publishing, has photographs of the landscape that will take your breath away – and remind you of what it means to be Canadian.”
Mark Hume, Globe & Mail
Now available from the CPAWS-Yukon online store. Go to: www.cpawsyukon.org/store for this and other amazing CPAWS Yukon merchandise!
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Write your own letter to the Commission or the Yukon Government and be entered in a draw to win a gorgeous Three Rivers book via www.cpaws.org/action/three-rivers.php.
There are many ways to stay involved and take action!
Stay involved and apply your talents and skills effectively.
Take Action Online:
www.cpaws.org/action/three-rivers.php
Check out the CPAWS online store for Three Rivers: Yukon's Great Boreal Wilderness, Three Rivers posters, DVDs of the Three Rivers Journey and more:
Shop CPAWS
Enjoy the exquisite beauty of the Yukon's great Three Rivers wilderness in your home, and help support the Three Rivers campaign, by purchasing a stunning boxed set of fine art prints by nationally known realist painter Ron Bolt.
Simply by being a member, you show that you care.
Learn more about CPAWS-Yukon’s bold conservation vision for the Peel watershed.
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