Ch. 3 Land - Environment Yukon

PROGRESS & CHALLENGES
Since the 1995 State of the
Environment report was published,
many significant steps have been taken
to control and regulate solid waste and
contaminants in the Yukon. Some of
the achievements in different areas are
listed below:
Progress since 1995
City of Whitehorse 1998 Solid Waste
Action Plan
■ Tipping fees
■ Waste Watch
DIAND Waste Management Program
■ About half of the 800+ waste
management sites have been
cleaned up
Yukon Environment Act Regulations:
■ Beverage Container Regulation
– amended in 1996 and 1998
■ Contaminated Sites Regulations
– January 1997
■ Storage Tanks Regulations
– January 1997
■ Spills Regulations –1997
■ Solid Waste Regulations – 2000
On-site clean-up:
■ Carcross waterfront
■ Whitehorse fire-training area
■ Whitehorse tank farm
Challenges:
While many sites could be listed as
problem areas in need of attention, some
of the more significant sites currently
being assessed for clean-up are:
■ Marwell tar pit;
■ War Eagle oil pond at
Whitehorse landfill; and
■ DEW Line sites
Attitudes – If all Yukoners live by the
four Rs of waste reduction, and reduce,
reuse, reclaim and recycle as a way of
life, we will significantly reduce the
amount of waste that we generate.
3.6 Agriculture
Agriculture has been part of the Yukon
economy since the beginning of nonnative
settlement in the mid-19th
century. Cultivated crops were grown
adjacent to fur trading posts, and the
territory met most of its own
requirements for vegetables and forage
crops during the Gold Rush when most
of the Yukon’s 40,000 residents lived in
Dawson City. During the 1920s, prior
to improvements in the transportation
network, extensive local gardens and
farms in communities such as Mayo,
Dawson, Carcross and at the mouth
of the Pelly River provided vegetables,
grain and hay for local markets. A very
limited amount of agricultural
production continued through to the
1960s and 1970s.
Since the Yukon agricultural land
allocation program was adopted in
1981, farming has increased (Figure
3.20). Locally grown farm products are
again available in the Yukon. In 1991
the sale of livestock and animal products
accounted for half of annual farm
production. Between 1986 and 1996,
the land in crops, number of farms, as
well as on-farm investment and infrastructure
have increased. Steady growth
in the numbers of domestic stock,
broiler chickens, laying hens, turkeys,
grain crops, green feed, forage crops
and greenhouse vegetable production
have contributed to the overall growth
in the industry.
The significant increase in sales of farm
products reflects the allocation of
agricultural land through the Yukon
government agricultural land programs
(Figure 3.21). Beginning in 1981,
individuals with a minimum of one year
residency in the Yukon could apply for
up to eight 65 hectare parcels for a
total of 520 hectares (1,300 acres). As
a result, land dispositions were high at
the beginning of the program. In 1983
alone, there were 28 agricultural land
dispositions for a total of 2,800
hectares. Between the years 1983 and
1991, a total of 6000 hectares of land
were disposed of for agriculture.
While the availability of farmland in
the 1980s boosted the production of
farm products, some dispositions
Figure 3.20 Growth of Agriculture in the Yukon from 1956-1996
From 1956 to 1996, the number of farms increased from 16 to 160; the total land in crops
increased from 204 to 5,678 hectares, and the sale of agricultural products rose from
$15,610 in 1961 to $3,536,098 in 1996. There were no data for 1976 and 1981.
C H A P T E R 3 L A N D ❧ 6 1