Premier of Yukon Sandy Silver speaks to media during the Western Premiers' conference, in Edmonton on June 27, 2019.JASON FRANSON/The Canadian Press
An agreement has been reached to manage a vast area of wilderness in northeastern Yukon called the Peel Watershed, nearly 15 years after a planning commission was first formed to consider the idea.
Leaders from the federal government as well as the territory, and several First Nations gathered in Mayo, Yukon, to officially sign the deal.
It creates 16 management units, each with specific recommendations for land and resource use, conservation and monitoring.
It covers 67,431 square kilometres of ecologically sensitive land in the Peel Watershed Planning Region.
A joint statement issued on behalf of all levels of government says the plan will allow for responsible land use while ensuring ecologically sensitive areas in the watershed are protected for the benefit of future generations.
Land use recommendations, reached in 2011 and favoured by the First Nations, proposed an 80-20 split between protection and development, but the Yukon government moved ahead with a plan to allow development of 70 per cent of the watershed.
That action was appealed all the way to the Supreme Court, which ruled the Yukon government did not have the authority for unilateral action and ordered all sides to take another look at the recommendations.
Thursday’s joint government statement says finalizing the Peel Watershed Regional Land Use Plan is a historic moment for the territory.
Premier Sandy Silver says the most important work to protect the Peel still lies ahead.
“I am tempted to think that my work as chief is over; that I can kick back now and fade into oblivion knowing that my people have a sanctuary for future generations. But in truth, the real work is just beginning,” Mervyn says in the statement.
The approved plan introduces a new type of landscape management unit that sets aside areas specifically designated to address Yukon’s obligations under the federal Species At Risk Act to protect boreal caribou habitat.
“I am so pleased the pristine nature of this landscape will exist for our citizens yet to come,” said Vuntut Gwitchin First Nation Chief Dana Tizya-Tramm. “A debt of gratitude is owed to all our partners and past leaders who believed in the honour of our treaties.”
This is the second regional land use plan approved in Yukon. The North Yukon Land Use Plan was approved in 2009.
Work on the Dawson Regional Land Use Plan is under way.
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