Land Use Planning & Protected Areas
The purpose of land use planning is to provide a vision and a roadmap for protecting, using, and managing land and resources. Plans provide a framework for future development decisions and they chart the course for protecting wild spaces.
Canada is a pioneer when it comes to parks, but our great wilderness is under threat from industry, population growth, tourism, climate change and other human disturbances that are chipping away at the landscape and putting species in peril. For humans to continue to thrive on this planet, we need set aside land where industry, roads and non-renewable resource extraction are limited.
Protect The Peel
From its dramatic peaks and high plateaus to its sprawling river valleys and wetlands, the Peel is one of Canada’s natural wonders. Four First Nations call the Peel home – the First Nation of Na-Cho Nyak Dun, Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in, Vuntut Gwitchin First Nation and Tetlit Gwich’in – and have for millennia hunted, fished and trapped in the Peel and received cultural nourishment from it.
Beaver River Watershed – Tsé Tagé
The unspoiled wilderness of the Beaver River Watershed provides vital habitat for moose, wolves, grizzly bears, river otter, Chinook salmon, and trumpeter swans. The diverse landscape falls within the traditional territory of the First Nation of Na-Cho Nyäk Dun, and it’s marked with wetlands and small lakes, as well as dramatic alpine passes.
Dawson Regional Land Use Plan
The Dawson Region, a varied and uniquely unglaciated landscape covering 8% of the Yukon, is steeped in the history and culture of the Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in people.
McIntyre Creek / Chasàn Chùa
McIntyre Creek is the heart of a wildlife corridor that passes through the city of Whitehorse, in the traditional territories of the Ta’an Kwäch’än Council and Kwanlin Dün First Nation. Its Southern Tutchone name is Chasàn Chùa, or Copper Creek, named by Yukon First Nation People who would find copper nuggets in the area.
Wildlife
Porcupine Caribou & Arctic National Wildlife Refuge
The Arctic Refuge is called Iizhik Gwats’an Gwandaii Goodlit by the Gwich’in, The Sacred Place Where Life Begins. For countless generations caribou have sustained the Gwich’in communities across the north.
Yukon Species At Risk
Ambitious action is needed to safeguard vulnerable species and the ecosystems they rely on. The Yukon is fortunate not to have suffered the degree of biodiversity loss that much of the planet has. Still, we cannot afford to be complacent. Current laws are inadequate to protect the Yukon’s biodiversity and ecological character.
Mining Reform
Let’s Reform Mining
We have a once in a generation opportunity. New mining legislation will rewrite the outdated Placer and Quartz Mining Acts, bringing mining in the Yukon into the 21st century and reforming the entire cycle of a mine.
You don’t need to be an expert on mining to share your vision, values, and hopes. The decisions we make about mineral development are ultimately also decisions on how we steward the land.
