Ch. 3 Land - Environment Yukon
Ch. 3 Land - Environment Yukon
Ch. 3 Land - Environment Yukon
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within the study area in February 1998,<br />
and some of the claim holders have<br />
let their holdings lapse. In the fall of<br />
1999, there were 75 valid quartz claims<br />
within the draft park boundary. In<br />
December 1999, the <strong>Yukon</strong> and<br />
Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in governments<br />
approved the park boundary and permanent<br />
mineral staking withdrawal will<br />
be requested.<br />
In the summer of 1999, a lapsed mineral<br />
interest was re-staked (6 claims)<br />
within an area of interest for “Goal<br />
one” protection under the <strong>Yukon</strong><br />
Protected Areas Strategy. The location<br />
of the claims within the headwaters<br />
of the Fishing Branch River, has raised<br />
concerns regarding the potential risk to<br />
water quality. In December 1999 the<br />
<strong>Yukon</strong> government approved the entire<br />
Fishing Branch watershed as a Wilderness<br />
Preserve. The existing mineral<br />
rights will be respected.<br />
Protected areas: A Canadian and<br />
Broader Perspective<br />
The Government of Canada issued a<br />
Statement of Commitment to complete<br />
Canada’s Network of Protected Areas<br />
by the year 2000. This commitment to<br />
complete a system of representative<br />
parks in each jurisdiction requires the<br />
cooperation of federal, provincial, and<br />
territorial governments 4.<br />
The <strong>Yukon</strong> still needs adequate<br />
representation in 16 of its 23 ecological<br />
regions according to the <strong>Yukon</strong> Parks<br />
System Plan and the <strong>Yukon</strong> Protected<br />
Areas Strategy. The National Parks<br />
System Plan guides Parks Canada in<br />
establishing parks. Under this system,<br />
one of the five natural regions in the<br />
<strong>Yukon</strong> is not currently represented by a<br />
national park. Parks Canada has<br />
identified the Wolf Lake candidate area<br />
in the Northern Interior Mountains and<br />
Plateau Natural Region for further<br />
assessment in 1999.<br />
First Nations are playing a key role in<br />
establishing parks and protected areas<br />
in the <strong>Yukon</strong>. The designation of Special<br />
Management Areas (SMAs) under the<br />
<strong>Yukon</strong> land claim protect areas of<br />
cultural and environmental significance.<br />
The extent of the influence of the land<br />
claim agreements is clear as only one<br />
protected area, Coal River Springs, has<br />
been designated outside the land claim<br />
process.<br />
Non-government agencies, such as the<br />
World Wildlife Fund and the Canadian<br />
Parks and Wilderness Society, research<br />
and lobby for areas in need of<br />
preservation around the world. Major<br />
non-governmental initiatives for the<br />
<strong>Yukon</strong> include the World Wildlife<br />
Fund’s Endangered Spaces Campaign,<br />
the Yellowstone to <strong>Yukon</strong> Project,<br />
<strong>Yukon</strong> Wildlands Project and the<br />
Caribou Commons Project.<br />
Joint initiatives and meetings between<br />
private industry, government and<br />
environmental groups are the start of a<br />
cooperative approach for the<br />
establishment of protected areas.<br />
PROGRESS & CHALLENGES<br />
Progress since 1995<br />
■ <strong>Yukon</strong> Protected Areas Strategy<br />
adopted December 1998.<br />
■ Protected Areas Secretariat<br />
established March 1999.<br />
■ There is adequate parks and<br />
protected area representation<br />
within seven of the 23<br />
ecoregions of the <strong>Yukon</strong>. These<br />
protected areas meet Goal One<br />
of the Protected Area Strategy as<br />
there is a representative core<br />
area protected within each<br />
ecoregion.<br />
■ Four ecoregions have some<br />
representation in the <strong>Yukon</strong><br />
protected areas network.<br />
■ Seven new protected areas<br />
established since 1995<br />
(Tombstone Territorial Park,<br />
Fishing Branch Wilderness<br />
Preserve, and the Ta’tla Mun<br />
Special Management Area) and<br />
four Habitat Protection Areas<br />
(Nordenskiold Wetlands, Ddhaw<br />
Ghro, Lhutsaw Wetlands and<br />
Fishing Branch Habitat Protected<br />
Area).<br />
■ 9.3 per cent of the <strong>Yukon</strong> was<br />
protected in 1999 according to<br />
Categories I to III of the World<br />
Conservation Union; an<br />
additional 2.2 per cent is interim<br />
protected.<br />
<strong>Ch</strong>allenges<br />
■ Following consultation with First<br />
Nation governments and the<br />
public, oil and gas land sales were<br />
held in 1999 in the Eagle Plains<br />
Basin. An area was exempted<br />
from oil and gas land sales for<br />
future protected areas work.<br />
Additional oil and gas land sales<br />
in the area are contemplated for<br />
2000. Areas to be exempted for<br />
protected areas planning remain<br />
under discussion. There is the<br />
potential that lands required for<br />
protected areas planning may be<br />
affected by the 2000 sale.<br />
■ Obtaining interim protection of<br />
areas of interests is recognized as<br />
a challenge.<br />
■ 16 out of the 23 ecoregions are<br />
not adequately represented by<br />
protected areas.<br />
3.3 Oil and Gas Industry<br />
The <strong>Yukon</strong> is entering a new era in the<br />
management of its oil and gas resources<br />
(Figure 3.7). Until recently, the<br />
Government of Canada owned and<br />
managed oil and gas in the <strong>Yukon</strong>. In the<br />
fall of 1998, the <strong>Yukon</strong> government<br />
assumed provincial-like responsibility for<br />
oil and gas resources and is establishing<br />
a competitive oil and gas regime.<br />
<strong>Yukon</strong> First Nations are also assuming<br />
responsibilities for oil and gas through<br />
land claim agreements. The <strong>Yukon</strong><br />
C H A P T E R 3 L A N D ❧ 4 1