Ch. 3 Land - Environment Yukon

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and time involved and the lack of available data. Developments excluded from both 1995 and 1999 are: seismic lines, grazing lands, isolated dwellings, cabins, some placer operations, minor mineral exploration, and a number Figure 3.1 Wilderness areas in the Yukon Territory of power lines, smaller roads and trails or footpaths. ■ As not all of the computerized data could be verified, there may be developments such as roads that are no longer in use and have reverted to wilderness. Alterna- tively, new roads that are not in the data base may have been missed. While this is a limitation of the wilderness map, overall, these mapping constraints likely balance out in terms of the total calculation of wilderness areas of the Yukon. Wilderness–areas with little human activity other than subsistence use or activities with low-scale development Natural–an intermediate category of ‘moderate’ wilderness. There may be evidence of human impacts such as tote trails, but in many aspects the land remains wilderness. Developed–this includes linear developments (such as roads), point developments (such as mine sites) and area developments (such as forest cut blocks). Technical Notes development primary secondary 4x2 4x4 type highway highway road road trail mine hydro placer forestry developed category width (km) 0-5 0-1 0-1 0-1 none 0-5 0-5 0-2 0-2 natural category width (km) >5-10 1-8 1-8 1-5 0-1 >5-10 >5-10 >2-4 >2-4 Because wilderness does not start at the edge of a mine site or highway, areas of varying widths have been added to accommodate for the transition zone between development and wilderness. The Technical Notes above show the widths of the areas included for the various types of development. wilderness 77% developed 8% 3 6 ❧ Y U K O N S T A T E O F T H E E N V I R O N M E N T R E P O R T 1999 natural 15%
Different data sources for 1999 than 1995 ■ Due to availability of computerized mapping, a number of roads, power lines, tote trails and four wheel drive trails, excluded from the 1995 wilderness map, were included in the 1999 mapping project. As a result of the new data source, the 1999 wilderness map is a new baseline for the amount of wilderness land in the Yukon. Comparisons between the 1995 and the 1999 maps and per cent of wilderness should not be made. Definitions of development used for mapping project Roads: all weather highways, two-wheel and four-wheel drive roads or tote trails, (excluding foot trails). Winter roads shown on the 1:250,000 NTS maps are included in the calculations. Resource extraction: mine sites (current or historical production greater than 500 tonnes) and significant mineral exploration and oil and gas sites. Placer mining: placer sites and major placer mining streams. Isolated placer operations were not mapped. Hydro development: hydro power generating sites and power lines shown on the 1:250,000 NTS maps. Major Forestry Operations: sites where multiple permits for logging exceeded 15,000 cu metres. Settlements: included with the road mapping. Percent Wilderness 100% 80% 60% 40% 20% 0% Ecoregion Boundaries Wilderness Developed C H A P T E R 3 L A N D ❧ 3 7 Natural Figure 3.3 Wilderness areas of the Yukon by Ecoregion Names of the ecoregions are shown in Figure 3.4 Boreal Mountains and Plateaus British-Richardson Mountains Eagle Plains Fort MacPherson Plain Hyland Highland Klondike Plateau Liard Basin Mackenzie Mountains Mount Logan Muskwa Plateau North Ogilvie Mountains Old Crow Basin Old Crow Flats Peel River Plateau Pelly Mountains Ruby Ranges Selwyn Mountains St.Elias Mountains Yukon Coastal Plain Yukon Plateau-Central Yukon Plateau-North Yukon Southern Lakes Yukon-Stikine Highlands Figure 3.2 Percentage of Area of Wilderness by Ecoregion
Page 1 and 2: The Yukon is situated in the northw
Page 3: number of humans is immense. As cou
Page 7 and 8: ■ protecting core areas within ea
Page 9 and 10: within the study area in February 1
Page 11 and 12: 3.4 Mining Mining has been an impor
Page 13 and 14: An environmental review committee,
Page 15 and 16: Reclamation and Abandonment When th
Page 17 and 18: first bar of gold on November 23, 1
Page 19 and 20: This creates uncertainty and delays
Page 21 and 22: every year in the Yukon, but the an
Page 23 and 24: Direct Costs: ■ Picking up Whiteh
Page 25 and 26: The Yukon’s beverage container re
Page 27 and 28: Contaminant? In Carcross, the recen
Page 29 and 30: PROGRESS & CHALLENGES Since the 199
Page 31 and 32: with the objective of import replac
Page 33 and 34: still exist along the old trails an
Page 35 and 36: 3.8 Tourism Tourism is gaining impo

Ch. 3 Land - Environment Yukon

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