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Posts by Adil Darvesh:

20200603 -ConservationFromTheCouch

Conservation from the Couch

20200603 -ConservationFromTheCouch

Conservation from the Couch

An abridged version of this was published in What’s Up Yukon

Written by Randi Newton, Conservation Manager

Like many Yukoners, physical distancing meant I spent a lot more time than usual at home this spring. One of my highlights was catching up with local films on the Yukon Film Society’s streaming website, Available Light on Demand. 

I was spellbound by Camera Trap, a short documentary that follows photographer Peter Mather as he tries to capture the perfect photo of the Porcupine caribou herd. Peter uses storytelling to advocate and inspire others to stand with the Gwich’in people and protect the herd’s migration route and calving grounds.

Watching Peter lug a heavy pulk across miles of soggy snow and carry expensive camera gear across streams of slippery snowmelt made my lazy evening on the couch feel even cushier. The end of the film shows the incredible images he was able to capture that will surely inspire conservation action. 

As a teenager, I remember reading National Geographic and being inspired by similar stories of epic journeys in the name of conservation. Now I work for a conservation organization, and my typical journey is far from epic. Usually it’s from home to office and back, with an occasional stop at the grocery store. Lately my commute has been even shorter, from the kitchen to my laptop at the dining room table.  

Even if you can’t undertake a marathon trek across the tundra, you can still support conservation. Writing letters and filling out engagement surveys are incredibly valuable. I call this “conservation from the couch”. These types of actions have advanced conservation efforts across the globe, including protection of the Porcupine caribou.

Two winters ago, oil exploration company SAExploration wanted to conduct an intrusive seismic survey in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. The Gwich’in Steering Committee and the Sierra Club led a campaign in opposition to the oil surveys, and inspired over 250,000 people to make phone calls or send emails to SAEx. Bernadette Dementieff of the Gwich’in Steering Committee joined local activists to hand deliver boxes upon boxes of letters to SAEx’s headquarters in Houston, Texas. The thousands of calls, emails, and letters – all part of conservation from the couch – had a large collective impact. Public opposition and SAEx’s legal difficulties have succeeded in keeping seismic exploration out of the Arctic Refuge. 

You don’t need to be an “expert” to advocate for issues that you care about. It can be intimidating if you don’t know exactly what to say but this shouldn’t stop you. The important thing is to tell your story, why you care, and what you hope to see. You don’t need to know all the policy jargon, or have navigated the regulatory spider web. For example, thousands of people called to “Protect the Peel”, and wrote why this was important to them. That was enough. Policy makers then translated this call for action into policy (if you’re curious, it translated to designating land management units in the Peel Watershed as Special Management Areas). 

Of course, not everyone has time to draft up a personal response. People are pulled in many directions by everything else going on in the world. Because you may be pressed for time, many organizations, including the team at CPAWS Yukon, often provide template letters that you can sign and send in. Decision makers may not weigh these types of responses as strongly as personal letters but will still see that you care about an issue. One way you can have more impact is to use the template letter as a starting point and add your own message. 

Feeling ready to flex your conservation from the couch muscles? Right now you can provide input on the Yukon Mineral Development Strategy, a strategy that could modernize mineral exploration and development in the territory. Because these practices touch so many facets of life, this is really a chance to have your say in what the Yukon’s future should look like. 

If you’ve ever thought that some things about mineral development in the Yukon need to shift, this is your opportunity to say so. That might include modernizing our mining legislation, putting a pause on mineral staking when land use planning is underway, or ensuring that mining aligns with the Yukon’s commitments to climate action and biodiversity conservation. Mining issues related to social justice and public health may also be on your mind. If you’re interested, CPAWS Yukon created a list of seven recommendations for the strategy, available at https://cpawsyukon.org/yukon-mds/. You can read them from your couch and, if they resonate with you, use them as a starting point to write your own submission. 

Remember, you don’t need to be an “expert”. You are the expert when it comes to your concerns, your values, and the future you want to see.


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Thoughts & Key Recommendations on Whitehorse’s Official Community Plan

20210527_134935

Thoughts & Key Recommendations on Whitehorse’s Official Community Plan

Written by Maegan Elliott, Conservation Coordinator at CPAWS Yukon, Heather Ashthorn, Executive Director of Wildwise Yukon, and Sebastian Jones, Fish, Wildlife, and Habitat Analyst at Yukon Conservation Society.

Header image by Maegan Elliott: Conservation Intern Preet Dhillon walks along a large wetland complex within Whitehorse city limits

The City of Whitehorse is seeking feedback on key policy ideas for the next Official Community Plan until August 31st. This high-level plan will provide overarching direction for the next 20 years, helping determine how Whitehorse addresses big issues—like affordable and just housing, charting how new development occurs, and ensuring that the future is shaped by the visions of the First Nations whose territories Whitehorse occupies. Our organizations encourage people to engage with the full scope of the Official Community Plan, but for the purposes of this blog we’ll focus on the parts of the plan that relate to wildlife habitat and climate change. 

You can read about these key policy ideas, also called emerging directions, here and access the survey to provide your feedback here by August 31st. This blog post includes key recommendations to the City from three local environmental organizations: CPAWS Yukon, Wildwise Yukon, and the Yukon Conservation Society (YCS). 

Key Recommendations from CPAWS Yukon

Overall, the directions laid out for the next Official Community Plan align with CPAWS Yukon’s climate action and conservation goals. The plan includes positive policy directions such as: finding ways to strengthen the circular economy, support low impact and efficient transportation, reduce wildfire risk, monitor and manage climate change impacts, improve our food security, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, densify housing development, maintain a network of green connections throughout the City, and look for opportunities to expand city parks beyond city boundaries with regional planning. CPAWS Yukon is also pleased to see the plan consider a collaborative approach to the conservation of McIntyre Creek, a significant wildlife area and wildlife corridor that passes through the city. However, we have a few key recommendations to offer:

  • Consider the potential future need for wildlife underpasses or overpasses along high-traffic roads that are likely to be upgraded in the future, such as the Alaska Highway and Mountainview Drive.
  • Ensure that further development within McIntyre Creek, such as a road, is removed from consideration before collaborative planning for the area is complete.
  • Improve how wildlife attractants, like garbage and compost bins, are managed in the city and strengthen applicable bylaws, especially along green spaces.
  • Follow the directions laid out in the Wildfire Risk Reduction Strategy. If forest is cleared for fuel breaks, ensure breaks are strategically located to ensure they’re effective and not simply a tool to clear land for development.
  • Ensure alignment with directions laid out in Our Clean Future, Yukon’s strategy to respond to climate change.

Wildwise Yukon’s Key Recommendations

Wildwise Yukon is a not for profit society, established in 2012, that operates to prevent and reduce human-wildlife conflict in the territory through research, outreach and education programs. Wildwise Yukon’s recommendations for the Official Community Plan center on improved coexistence with wildlife in Whitehorse: 

  • Promote human-wildlife coexistence across city strategies.
  • Include specific direction in the Official Community Plan for reducing human-wildlife conflict.
  • All city planning processes must align to promote wildlife-human coexistence. The Official Community Plan should acknowledge that we live in wildlife territory and demonstrate that wildlife will be considered in all planning processes. For example, the Official Community Plan should:
    • Outline the City’s intent to improve our waste management system so it does not lead to habituation and food conditioning of bears.
    • Provide direction for Parks planning in a way that considers and avoids development in areas with optimal bear forage and historical human-bear conflict and maintains trails and campgrounds in a manner which decreases risks.
    • Empower the strengthening of bylaws and regulations to ensure increased agricultural activity in the city doesn’t lead to increased human-wildlife conflict.
    • Consider the use of ornamentals for city beautifications that are not attractive to bears or other wildlife.
    • Empower revisions to municipal building code to require bear proof enclosures for waste storage in all new buildings.
  • All documents should reference the Whitehorse Bear Hazard Assessment, which was co-commissioned by WildWise, the City, Yukon Government, Kwanlin Dün First Nation and Ta’an Kwäch’än Council in 2016.

Yukon Conservation Society’s Key Recommendations

YCS is a grassroots environmental non-profit organization, established in 1968. Through a broad program of conservation education, input into public policy, and participating in project review processes, we strive to ensure that the Yukon’s natural resources are managed wisely, and that development is informed by environmental considerations. Policy directions in the Official Community Plan contain numerous excellent ideas, and YCS hopes these suggestions are helpful: 

  1.     Towards Reconciliation:
  • The Towards Reconciliation Policy Directions does reference “continued collaboration” with First Nations, but it does not define a formal role for First Nations in planning. We recommend that this is addressed, and that there is a clear plan for how the City of Whitehorse will ensure that Ta’an Kwäch’än Council and Kwanlin Dün First Nation are meaningful partners in all planning decisions.
  1.     Climate Action:
  • We are pleased to see that a community emissions inventory is proposed; this would be strengthened with measurable targets in line with the International Panel on Climate Change’s direction to massively and urgently reduce emissions immediately, and mechanisms for enforcement.
  • There is an opportunity to reduce wildfire risk and advance Reconciliation by supporting First Nations led controlled burns.
  • We are cautious about expanding agriculture lands as a means towards increased local food production; there are real ecological consequences to converting wild lands to agriculture, and given the amount of underutilized, and un-utilized agriculture land, this may not be a good approach.
  • Winter Transportation should be part of a Winter City Strategy.
  1.     Towards a Sustainable Mode Share:
  • Achieving sustainable transportation is an excellent policy direction.
  • The target to reduce single passenger traffic should aim to reduce the total number of trips in single passenger vehicles compared to today, not simply the proportion of trips as a whole.
  • YCS suggests zoning and other incentives that will foster and even mandate vehicle free households.
  • In our experience, neighbourhoods rarely include a network of walking/cycling/ski trails separate from road networks. Foot trails can pass between houses in a way that roads cannot, and can greatly increase the livability of neighbourhoods.
  1.     Conservation of Natural Areas:
  • We suggest that the Conservation of Natural Areas direction includes a commitment to a defined minimum percentage of lands set aside for conservation, rather than ‘a large percentage’. The setting of this percentage, and identifying which lands, is another opportunity for Reconciliation.
  • Key wildlife corridors should be identified and protected, and wildlife crossing for busy roads should be planned for.
  • The Yukon River Corridor extends from the Southern Lakes to the Alaska border northwest of Dawson City, and early signals from the Draft Dawson Regional Land Use Plan indicate that this corridor will be managed as a unit, primarily for conservation. YCS recommends a commitment to integrating the Yukon River corridor within Whitehorse municipal limits into the Yukon wide Yukon River Corridor Special Management Area.
  1.     Strong Downtown and liveable areas:
  • YCS supports the approach that directs development to the downtown core rather than towards a highway strip. A commitment to zoning that prevents contradictory decisions would put meaning to this policy direction.
  • YCS supports the concepts of Urban and Neighbourhood centres and encouraging development adjacent to transportation routes.
  1.     Targeting the Right Supply of Housing:
  • Consideration should be given to Municipally owned and built housing, a model which has proven itself as a method of rapidly addressing affordable housing gaps in numerous countries. 
  1.     Intensifying Employment Areas:
  • We applaud the direction to accommodate growth, rather than foster growth, and we agree with densifying development.
  • Given that infinite growth on a finite land-base is impossible, no matter how excellent the planning, YCS suggest that Whitehorse consider ways to arrest the curve of growth, and to set a population target and methods to achieve it.

You’ve made it all the way to the end of the key recommendations from CPAWS Yukon, Wildwise Yukon and YCS! To gain some inspiration for your own feedback, scroll down and enjoy a cinematic masterpiece produced by the City of Whitehorse. Then, go take the survey to have your say in the Official Community Plan!


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Bureau of Land Management releases Notice of Intent to create Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement for Arctic Refuge

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August 3, 2021

Today, the U.S. Bureau of Land Management released a Notice of Intent to create a Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (SEIS) for the 2019 Coastal Plain Oil and Gas Leasing Program Environmental Impact Statement. 

This is a step towards hopefully identifying, and rectifying, the gaping deficiencies of the previous Environmental Impact Statement, released in September 2019, and begins a 60-day public scoping period. Comments on impacts, issues, and alternatives can be submitted to the Bureau of Land Management to be included in the SEIS. 

While we are pleased to see this, it implies a leasing program would continue for the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. This critical area for the Porcupine caribou herd requires permanent protection and the United States Congress has an opportunity to take a step in that direction by repealing the leasing program from the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017. 

Press Statement from the Gwich’in Steering Committee

Press Statement from the Sovereign Iñupiat for a Living Arctic

Full Notice of Intent

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Contact

Adil Darvesh, CPAWS Yukon Communications Coordinator

adarvesh@cpawsyukon.org | 647-984-6067

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The Yukon could be a national leader in conservation

June 22, 2021, Whitehorse, Yukon – Conservation foot-dragging by provinces and territories was the main reason behind Canada’s failure to meet its international promise to protect at least 17% of its land by 2020. While the Northwest Territories, Quebec and federal government earned the highest grades for their efforts to meet the target (A- to B), the Yukon was not far behind with a score of B-, according to a new Report Card by the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society (CPAWS). Still, the Yukon Government, along with other jurisdictions, will need to improve their conservation performance in the years ahead if the country is to halt and reverse the critical decline of biodiversity and meet its pledge to protect at least 30% of its land and ocean by 2030.

The Grades Are In: A Report Card On Canada’s Progress in Protecting its Land and Ocean is a baseline for tracking Canada’s annual progress toward its 30-by-30 protection goal. This first CPAWS Report Card evaluated efforts to create protected areas over the past decade by Canada’s current federal, provincial, and territorial governments and assigned each jurisdiction a grade (except for Nunavut and PEI, where CPAWS does not have an on-the-ground presence). This assessment shows that a lack of commitment and ambition across much of the country stymied efforts to protect at least 17% of Canadian land and inland waters by last year’s 2020 deadline. Currently, only 13.1% of the country’s land is protected. Canada met its 10% ocean protection target by 2020 with 13.8% protected, albeit with concerns about the quality of conservation measures in some areas.

The Yukon remains behind the leaders with a score of B- but the potential to improve is high. Currently 11.8% of the territory is protected, and this number will rise to 19.4% once the Peel Watershed Plan is implemented. With the Peel saga resolved and land use planning no longer stalled, the Dawson Regional Land Use Plan is an opportunity for the Yukon to pick up momentum and become a national leader in conservation. Indigenous-led conservation, developing successor mining legislation, and putting the Yukon Parks Strategy into action are further opportunities for protecting Yukon’s ecologically and culturally important wild spaces. 

Some challenges remain. A funding injection is needed to boost depleted land use planning funds to make sure there is capacity and resources to do planning right. . In addition, mineral development continues to move ahead in the absence of land use planning, shaping landscapes before governments and people have the opportunity to determine their best future. 

For the Yukon to become a national leader in conservation, it must:

  • Support First Nation leadership through Indigenous Protected and Conserved Areas. 
  • Prioritize land use planning and First Nation rights over mining interests.
  • Pause mineral staking ahead of land use planning.
  • Complete Yukon Species At Risk legislation to protect the plethora of species not protected under existing legislation.

“Yukon Government’s performance for protecting wild spaces over the last decade was mixed but the next 10 years hold promise. The government can help ensure a healthy future for the ecosystems we all rely on by honouring the land use planning process and supporting Indigenous-led conservation,” said Randi Newton, CPAWS Yukon Conservation Manager.

“The goal of this inaugural Report Card is to learn from the successes and failures of the past to guide effective conservation into the future,” added Sandra Schwartz, CPAWS National Executive Director. “With the recent federal commitment of over $3 billion for nature conservation, including for partners, CPAWS is expecting real action – now – and we are looking forward to supporting this important work over the next decade.”

You can view the report here: https://cpaws.org/cpaws-2021-report-card/

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For more information, or to arrange an interview, please contact: 

Adil Darvesh
Communications Coordinator, CPAWS Yukon
adarvesh@cpawsyukon.org
867-393-8080 x9

Tracy Walden
National Director, Communications and Development, CPAWS
twalden@cpaws.org 
613-915-4857

Reconciliation Commitment Graphic (2)

CPAWS Yukon’s Commitment to Reconciliation

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For many years, CPAWS Yukon has been working hard to act in the spirit of reconciliation. It is work that arguably started when previous staff and leaders at the organization began to meaningfully collaborate with Na-Cho Nyäk Dun, Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in, Vuntut Gwitchin First Nation and the Gwich’in Nations of the Northwest Territories, represented by the Gwich’in Tribal Council.

In recent years, working ethically to support First Nations has been something we have continued to focus on. Our team has committed to learning, through taking courses, internal training and conversations and direct teaching by Elders and other First Nations leaders across the Yukon. We are also particularly lucky that Anne Mease, a Selkirk First Nation Citizen with a Masters in Native Studies, works for CPAWS Yukon as our Outreach Coordinator. 

Through all of this, the more we have learned, the more we have come to recognize just how much we still have to do. 

So when, at the beginning of this year, Jared Gonet – a PHD candidate, former President of the Yukon Conservation Society & Taku River Tlingit citizen – approached us about collaborating on a reconciliation document, we were excited to start working on it. 

At the time, we could not have predicted where the document would go, and how much I would learn through drafting it. The more we worked on it, the more important it began to feel. We knew that it was something we had to get right.

What you see here is the result of many, many hours of work. Its authors include Jared Gonet and Caitlynn Beckett (YCS board member), Anne Mease, Joti Overduin and myself. We also had an incredible amount of support and input from the board of CPAWS Yukon, whose input helped make it much, much better.

On May 31st, 2021, our Board of Directors voted to formally adopt this document. In doing so, they have acknowledging the work we have to do and we – as a staff and board – are making a firm commitment to action. Please hold us to it. 

I encourage you to take the time to read this document, and we welcome any organization to adapt or copy it for yourself – though if you do, we ask you not to do it lightly. It can only be meaningful if we, as a sector, follow through on the actions we have committed to. 

With that, I present to you: CPAWS Yukon’s Commitment on Reconciliation. 

Chris Rider
Executive Director

Our Commitment to Reconciliation

Reconciliation is about balance and healing between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Peoples, including non-profit organizations. We are an environmental organization that is settler-founded and has a staff and board that remains mostly-settler. Our ways of operating have been, and are currently, influenced by the norms and customs that have been forcibly imposed since the European colonisation of Canada. This is important to recognize as it carries specific responsibilities in our path towards Reconciliation. It is our desire and our obligation to reconcile the colonial past with the present and into the future. CPAWS Yukon acknowledges the responsibility to support First Nations and the Inuvialuit to safeguard the land, water and air for future generations. We commit to specific actions to help with our path towards Reconciliation, though we acknowledge that we will not be the ones to determine if they were effective. We recognize that we are in the early stages of an important journey, and for this reason, this is a living document and it will continue to evolve as we learn.

Our Pledge:
  • Follow a path towards Reconciliation.
  • Learn from, and be accountable for any mistakes we make and have made. We will work to reinforce and expand positive efforts and approaches.
  • Listen
  • Be true partners with Yukon First Nations and other Indigenous Peoples as we seek to maintain species and places that shelter and provide for those species
  • Continue to prioritize building and stewarding relationships with First Nations and Inuvialuit communities, citizens and governments. We recognize the responsibilities that come with these relationships and that trust is difficult to earn, but easily broken
  • Recognize the history of colonialism that exists within conservation and environmental management and take action to ensure that it does not continue
  • Create awareness about:
    • The structures that were designed to foster and uphold colonialism, such as the Doctrine of Discovery and Terra Nullius. It is helpful that these ideas have been renounced both nationally and internationally, in particular by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and through UNDRIP, though the concepts tied to them are still used today and impede the path to Reconciliation;
    • How the environmental sector can support the abolishment of colonialism.

We are still far from Reconciliation, and acknowledge the fact that it is ultimately not for us to decide what is considered true reconciliation. Understanding the damage done through past and existing colonial institutions and practices, there is still much to learn and much healing to be done. We recognize that this commitment is just a step in our ongoing journey. With this work, we hope we can play a small role towards Reconciliation with Indigenous peoples and we will play this role with humility, respect, and hope for a better tomorrow

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A Guide to Yukon Bats for Endangered Species Day

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A Guide to Yukon Bats for Endangered Species Day

A Guide to Yukon Bats for Endangered Species Day

Written by Maegan McCaw, Conservation Coordinator
Header Image by Maegan McCaw

Friday, May 21st has been designated as Endangered Species Day. This is an important day to acknowledge the thousands of species around the world whose populations are in decline, and the efforts of those working to conserve and protect these species.

For this year’s Endangered Species Day, I’m going to take you on a deep dive into the world of bats.

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Basking bats at Miles Canyon. Photo by Brian Slough.
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Maegan McCaw setting up a bat detector along McIntyre Creek. Photo by Julie Thomas.
A Guide to Yukon Bats for Endangered Species Day
A bat detector at the McIntyre Creek Pumphouse Pond in 2020. Photo by Maegan McCaw

Eight bat species have been recorded in the Yukon, including the Little Brown Myotis and the Northern Myotis, both live captured, and the Long-eared Myotis, Yuma Myotis, Long-legged Myotis, Silver-haired Bat, Eastern Red Bat and Hoary Bat, confidently identified from echolocation calls. All of these species, aside from the Little Brown Myotis, have been found only in southern Yukon and may be restricted to local areas in this region. To read more about Yukon bats, check out this pamphlet by Yukon Wildlife Viewing.

I’ve been fortunate to learn about bats through my work at McIntyre Creek and the opportunity to collaborate with local researchers. Last summer I used bat detectors to record the echolocation calls of bats at McIntyre Creek. These surveys only lasted for a few nights at a handful of sites, and to my amazement, they resulted in thousands of recordings of bat calls each night. I learned this means there is likely a maternal colony in the area. Julie Thomas, a Yukon Government biologist, and Brian Slough, an independent researcher, helped analyze the files and determined many of the calls were feeding calls, and the Little Brown Myotis and potentially the Long-legged Myotis were recorded. The only other acoustic recordings of Long-legged Myotis in the Yukon were at Wolf Creek, just south of Whitehorse, Carmacks, Teslin and Destruction Bay. 

Canada has 622 species listed under the Species at Risk Act (SARA). Species listed here are nationally recognized to be locally extinct, endangered, threatened or of special concern. Of these 622, 91 are found in the Yukon. CPAWS and others have been advocating for the establishment of Territory-specific legislation to properly protect and manage species at risk for years to fill in the gaps that SARA leaves.

Across Canada, the Little Brown Myotis and the Northern Myotis are both listed as endangered  due to white nose syndrome. This fungal disease has devastated bat populations in eastern Canada, leading to a 94% overall decline in hibernating populations in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Ontario and Quebec. It continues to advance northward and westward without containment. Local bat researchers are bracing themselves for the day that white nose syndrome is discovered in a Yukon bat.

Other issues threaten bats across Canada. Bats are sensitive to human disturbance during hibernation; each instance of disturbance is energetically costly to a hibernating bat, as their metabolic rate goes up and they are left to determine if there is an immediate threat or not. Enough disturbances can lead to starvation. Wind turbines can also be deadly to bats, especially to species that undergo long distance migrations. Loss of habitat or change to forest structure is another threat, as well as chemical contamination. Bat’s diet of insects makes them vulnerable to the effects of pesticides, though the impacts and extent of negative effects from pesticides are unknown.

Industrial projects, such as quarrying for the Site C dam in B.C., pose serious threats. The chosen quarry site at Portage Mountain for the Site C project encroaches on priceless bat hibernation sites and summer habitat for eight different species of bats. Bats require warm, humid areas to hibernate in the winter – a rare find in northern landscapes. Such sites usually have a long history of use by bats, and there might not be other suitable habitats available across the landscape. Important hibernation sites paired with summer roosting and feeding areas, such as wetlands (one of which was backfilled for the Site C quarrying project), are even more rare. In the case of this quarrying project, B.C. Hydro prioritized industrial interests and the convenience of the Portage Mountain site over its value as a critical habitat feature.

“So, what?”, you might think. How important are bats, really? The answer is, bats bring a number of benefits to our lives, but beyond that, they have their own intrinsic value that must be appreciated. It should also come as no surprise that the health of all living things and the land are connected in some way – also known as One Health – so the health of bats and their habitats have an effect on our health as well.

Bats provide an important ecosystem service by helping to manage insect populations, including agricultural and forestry insect pests, and some bat species are important pollinators. They are also a sign of ecosystem health. Multiple cases of One Health issues have arisen from humans interrupting the natural system and causing wildlife, such as bats, to relocate, sometimes leading to the transmission of disease. Sadly, myths and exaggerated messages of bats carrying disease have led to a fear of bats, and in some cases people have even exterminated entire colonies.

Bats are intelligent, social, long-lived creatures. The little brown myotis can live into their 30s! They also have a slow birth rate, and females raise one pup every one to two years. We still have a lot to learn about bats, especially populations in the Yukon, but they – and their habitats – are clearly worth working to conserve.

There is no doubt that more research needs to be done on Yukon bats to fill broad knowledge gaps. Canada’s bat populations are faced with serious threats, and time is of the essence. Thankfully, a handful of biologists, researchers, and bat enthusiasts including: Yukon Government biologists Tom Jung, Piia Kukka, and Julie Thomas; independent researcher Brian Slough; Wildlife Conservation Society Scientist Cori Lausen, and; University of Calgary Professor Robert Barclay, among others, actively continue to contribute to the body of knowledge about Yukon bats. Their work is immensely important, especially as white nose syndrome makes its way closer to the territory. Filling knowledge gaps about Yukon bats will allow us to identify critical habitat, monitor species and populations, and address threats.

This summer CPAWS is partnering with several researchers and biologists to study bats at McIntyre Creek and Wolf Creek. We hope to learn how bats use specific features and characteristics along these two urban creeks near Whitehorse. This work may also give more insight into which species of bats are present along these urban creek systems.  

If you want to participate in projects like this or are interested in learning more about other local species, come join us out at McIntyre Creek this summer. You can also contribute to bat conservation efforts in other ways. Reporting potential maternal roosts to Yukon Government – indicated by large quantities of guano at the base of a roost, or seeing a group of bats entering/leaving a roost site at night – is an important step. You can also install a bat house, providing a place for bats to roost on your property (and enjoy the added benefit of fewer mosquitos around your yard). Contact Yukon Wildlife Viewing for more information on their bat house program. Finally, you can teach your friends and family about the importance of bats, and dispel outdated myths that may cause them to unnecessarily fear bats. Just like other things in nature, a little respect for their life history and important habitats goes a long way, and in the long run, this can lead to mutual benefits. Let’s keep bats around for the long haul.

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$10,000 award recognizes Netro’s 22 years of extraordinary contributions to conservation

Old Crow, Yukon, May 18th, 2021 – WWF-Canada and the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society (CPAWS) are honored to announce the remarkable conservation efforts and achievements of Vuntut Gwitchin elder Lorraine Netro, the winner of the fifth and final Glen Davis Conservation Leadership Prize.

About the winner

Since 1999, Lorraine Netro has dedicated herself to protecting the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. The refuge is home to the calving grounds of the Porcupine caribou herd, which migrates between Canada and Alaska every year and holds great significance to the Gwich’in Nation. As part of this work, Netro has long advocated against oil development within the Arctic Refuge.

Netro also served two terms as MLA for the Vuntut Gwich’in, with shadow cabinet roles for the environment, women and justice. She is a board member for both the Gwich’in Steering Committee and Alaska Wilderness League and sits on the Advisory Committee on Climate Action and the Environment for the Assembly of First Nations.

Netro has been instrumental in guiding and mentoring the new generation of Gwitchin leaders, through her selfless advocacy and dedication to the Porcupine caribou. We are pleased to recognize her outstanding conservation efforts with the Glen Davis Conservation Leadership Prize.

About the Prize

The Glen Davis Conservation Prize has been a 5-year joint project between WWF-Canada and The Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society (CPAWS). This prize was first established in 2017, on the 10th anniversary of Davis’s death to honour his nationally significant contributions. 2021 marks the final year that the prize will be awarded.

Lorraine Netro, Old Crow, Yukon, says:

“I am truly humbled and honored by this special recognition to receive the Glen Davis award.  Glen Davis’s honorable conservation legacy in Canada and beyond is truly memorable and significant.

Mahsi cho to all who made this happen.

As a Gwitchin, it is our belief that we do not accept honorable recognition for ourselves.  I will accept this award on behalf of my family, community, our nation, for all those who came before me and those who will come after me, and those who walk with us to protect our Sacred Lands, the animals and waters. Being stewards of our lands has been taught to us from generation to generation, it is our responsibility to our children, grandchildren and all future generations.  More so today with threats to our Sacred places and traditional way of life, the challenges of Climate Change and living in pandemic.  Our voice, our work is not done until we have permanent protection for our sacred places.”

Sandra Schwartz, National Executive Director, CPAWS, says:

“CPAWS is thrilled to recognize Lorraine Netro for this year’s Glen Davis Prize. Lorraine is a respected Vuntut Gwitchin elder who has been working tirelessly for more than 20 years to protect the Arctic Refuge and the Porcupine caribou herd. In that time, she has travelled across North America and visited Washington D.C. dozens of times to speak about the importance of the Porcupine caribou herd for the lives of Gwich’in people. Her first speaking tour in the U.S. was part of the Caribou Commons campaign, which Glen Davis helped fund, so it is a fitting tribute to his legacy that Lorraine is this year’s award recipient. She has never been paid for her conservation work but has done it for the good of her community.”

Monte Hummel, president emeritus of WWF-Canada, says:

“Glen would have been so pleased to see Lorraine win this prize. He helped fund her hard work to protect the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and, on many occasions, personally followed the Porcupine caribou herd during their migration. I even camped with him in the Refuge itself – surrounded by caribou on their sacred calving grounds. Glen loved that place deeply.”

About the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society

The Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society (CPAWS) is Canada’s only nationwide charity dedicated solely to the protection of our public land, ocean, and freshwater, and ensuring our parks and protected areas are managed to protect nature. Since 1963, we have played a leading role in protecting over half a million square kilometres. Our vision is to protect at least half of Canada’s public land and water in a framework of reconciliation – for the benefit of wildlife and people. For more information about CPAWS and the work we do to safeguard Canada’s natural heritage, visit cpaws.org. Join our community on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn. Donate today. Take action.

About World Wildlife Fund Canada

WWF-Canada creates solutions to the environmental challenges that matter most for Canadians. We work in places that are unique and ecologically important, so that nature, wildlife and people thrive together. Because we are all wildlife. For more information, visit wwf.ca.

Contact
Tracy Walden
National Director, Communications and Development, CPAWS
twalden@cpaws.org
613-915-4857

Adil Darvesh
Communications Coordinator, CPAWS Yukon
adarvesh@cpawsyukon.org
867-393-8080×9
There’s momentum for mining reform

Op-Ed: There’s momentum for mining reform

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There’s momentum for mining reform

Written by Randi Newton | May 13, 2021
Photo by Malkolm Boothroyd, mining in Keno.

The territory’s mining legislations need a substantial overhaul.

Read the full editorial as published in the Yukon News on May 13th, 2021.

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Op-Ed: There’s momentum for mining reform

The Yukon’s mining laws were enacted over a hundred years ago. Despite minor updates, they haven’t kept pace with the scale of mining seen today, or with the territory’s social, political, and legal landscape. I had hoped the development of the Mineral Development Strategy would provide a blueprint for bringing the territory’s mining laws into stride with 21st century expectations and realities.

While the final strategy, released this April, includes many progressive recommendations and is a big step forward, it isn’t enough to move past the mire of issues linked to the Yukon’s current mining regime.

True, it does include powerful mentions of reconciliation and honouring Aboriginal rights, respecting the wellbeing of people and the environment, and managing mining in a forward thinking way. But its recommendations fall short in fully and consistently advancing all of these ideas. First Nations and many others pointed out the shortcoming of the draft strategy but most of these flaws were not resolved in the final document.

Despite this, I remain optimistic that mining in the territory can be reshaped, to ensure that the health of the land, people and communities comes first, and that the benefits and opportunities that mining can bring are equitably shared. The Mineral Development Strategy is just one of multiple forces pushing the territory in that direction.

These forces include notable court cases, like the Supreme Court of Canada’s Peel Watershed ruling that upheld the right of First Nations to meaningfully participate in resource management in their traditional territories. It also includes the Yukon Court of Appeal’s 2012 ruling, which found the Yukon government had a duty to consult Ross River Dena Council before granting quartz mineral claims, and that the territory’s free entry mining system conflicted with this duty.

Despite these legal victories, policies and legislation can shift frustratingly slowly. If change was quicker to arrive, the First Nation of Na-Cho Nyäk Dun wouldn’t have had to launch legal action against the territorial government for failing to properly consult before they approved mineral exploration in the Tsé Tagé (Beaver River) Watershed. But this case also shows that people and First Nation governments will continue to stand up for meaningful reform.

Momentum for mining reform was also on display at the Yukon Water Board’s October 2020 public hearing on placer mining in wetlands. While the board has not yet acted on that hearing, First Nations and environmental organizations sent a clear message that placer mining in undisturbed wetlands must be paused until a framework is in place to protect the ecological integrity of these habitats and to respect Aboriginal Rights.

Other signs of change include Yukon government’s rejection of Atac Resources’ 65 km mining exploration road through the pristine Tsé Tagé Watershed, a project that may have gone ahead had the government’s review been less thoughtful. Another recent example was the federal government directing the Yukon Environmental and Socio-Economic Review Board (YESAB) to revisit and better address the likely impacts of the Kudz ze Kyah mine, including the decline of the Finlayson caribou herd and resulting impacts on Kaska Dena rights. This shows it’s becoming less acceptable for projects to move forward with unproven plans to avoid and address impacts on wildlife, water and the land.

These forces of change are reflected in the attitudes of Yukoners. Recent independent polling commissioned by CPAWS Yukon and the Yukon Conservation Society shows that:

  • 60 per cent of Yukoners think that our territory’s mining laws are too weak (only 24 per cent think they’re strong enough);
  • 72 per cent agree that much more should be done to clean up mines after they’re closed; and
  • 78 per cent support ambitious conservation goals, the same or higher than Canada’s target to protect 30 per cent of land and waters by 2030.

While many of the recommendations in the Yukon Mineral Development Strategy would improve the mining rules currently in place, the changes envisioned in the strategy will likely be outpaced by the forces mentioned above. The final strategy doesn’t resolve key issues, like mining and other development moving forward ahead of land use planning or attaining free, prior, and informed consent from First Nations. This leaves mineral development at odds with other values and uses of land, and in conflict with First Nation rights.

As another example, CPAWS Yukon and others had hoped the strategy would call for a pause on mineral staking and development at the start of land use planning. Otherwise, a steady stream of permits quickly reduces options to thoughtfully consider other uses of land and can introduce complicated wranglings for compensation. Unfortunately, the final strategy caps temporary staking withdrawals at 20 per cent of a planning region, a number that’s arbitrary and inadequate for preserving other land values while planning is ongoing.

We were also concerned by some of the recommendations to streamline the regulatory system. While this is an admiral goal on the surface, a number of the strategy’s recommendations would achieve it at the expense of accountability and transparency. One example is a recommendation to create a government liaison position to guide proponents through the mining regulatory system. Having the government act as both regulator and client advisor creates a conflict of interest and can impede the ability of regulators to act in the public interest.

Yet the strategy also includes recommendations that will bring about overdue and powerful changes. Most significantly, it calls on the Yukon to modernize its woefully outdated mining laws. Engagement submissions from First Nations, environmental organizations and many Yukoners show the expectation is for legislation to be brought fully in line with the Final Agreements and Aboriginal rights, as well as environmental and cultural sustainability.

The Mineral Development Strategy also places rightful priority on continuing land use planning across the territory, and on making sure there is funding available to do planning properly.

As with the draft, the strategy calls for a comprehensive review of our royalty system, so that more of the profits that are extracted out of the land flow back to Yukoners and First Nations, and future generations. It also includes progressive new mechanisms like a Heritage Fund and a payroll tax for fly-in workers. These policies would help deliver more consistent and fair financial, social and ecological returns to the Yukon.

Most meaningfully, the development of the Yukon Mineral Development Strategy sparked an important and lively public discussion about how to best reshape mining in the territory, for the betterment of the land, climate, wildlife, people, and communities. Even if the strategy itself didn’t fully capture all of the contributing voices, this conversation will continue as people work together to shape the future of the territory.

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