About 80 people braved the chilly weather to attend a regional planning conference in Dawson City on January 18th and 19th, 2012. This well received conference used a combination of presentations, break-out work groups, and a panel discussion to address the evaluation of trade-offs, frameworks for conservation assessment and economic and social consequences of resource development.

The presentations and a summary of the proceedings are posted    pdf here (424 KB)  (and soon on the Dawson Regional Planning Commission's website).

Congratulations to the Dawson Regional Planning Commission for reaching its first major milestone! On December 1st, 2011, it published its pdf Interests and Issues Report (263 KB) pdf . (263 KB)  This report summarizes the feedback from Plan Partners (the Yukon and Tr'ondëk Hwëch'in governments), stakeholder organizations and the general public on the Dawson Region land and resource base, and people's relationship to it. The Commission noted that some interests were shared among stakeholders, while others conflicted. Further, the Commission identified four key themes that will be addressed in their regional land use plan:

The Yukon Land Use Planning Council reviewed the Peel Watershed Planning Commission's Final Recommended Plan, and submitted it to the Senior Liaison Committee (a committee of senior Yukon Government and First Nations representatives).

On September 16^th 2011, the Yukon Land Use Planning Council made four recommendations to the Yukon Government and all the Southern Yukon First Nations regarding regional planning in the southern Yukon.

The Peel Watershed Planning Commission (PWPC) has submitted their  pdf Final Recommended Peel Watershed Regional Land Use Plan (13.26 MB) to the Na-Cho Nyak Dun, Vuntut Gwitchin, Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in, Gwich’in Tribal Council, and Yukon governments (the "Parties") for approval. These governments provided comments on the previous version of the plan (the Recommended Plan) in late February 2011. Upon receipt of these comments, the formerly dormant Commission had several meetings with seconded (from YLUPC) and contracted staff to develop the Final Plan. As of July 25th, 2011, the Commission has fulfilled its mandate, and is no longer active.

The Senior Liaison Committee (SLC) representing the Parties is now reviewing and consulting on the Plan. These Parties anticipate reaching a decision on the Final Plan by late fall.

On January 20^th, 2011, the Parties to the Peel Watershed regional planning process signed a joint letter of understanding (LOU) that confirms the commitment by the Parties to the process, and clarifies its objectives, principles, timeframes and procedures.   pdf Download the LOU here. (314 KB)

The Dawson planning region

In consultation with Yukon Government, the Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in, Nacho Nyäk Dun and the Vuntut Gwitchin First Nations, the Yukon Land Use Planning Council has produced a “Terms of Reference” for the Dawson Regional Planning Commission. This document is the first step towards producing a regional plan for the Dawson Planning Region and represents the “marching orders” for the Commission. It has been agreed to by the Yukon Government, the Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in and the Vuntut Gwitchin First Nation. The commission's interim website can be found here.

With the publication of the Final Recommended Peel Watershed Regional Land Use Plan in July 2011, the Peel Watershed Planning Commission finished its work. Before they finished, Yukon land claims agreements allowed them to comment on proposed projects in the Peel Watershed to the YESAB. The same agreements (and YESAA) allowed them to determine if a project conforms to their approved plan. However, without an approved plan, the Peel Watershed Planning Commission has no official avenue to evaluate projects in their region.

To fill this gap, the Yukon Land Use Planning Council has recommended that they (YLUPC) perform consistency checks on proposed projects in such planning regions.

When the Yukon Land Use Planning Council first started working towards regional land use planning in the Yukon in 1999, it divided the Territory up into eight conceptual planning regions with loosely defined borders. With the establishment of three planning commissions in the north (North Yukon, Peel Watershed, and Dawson), the Council is looking south to recommend the next planning region.

An ALCES® landscape computer simulation model was used to explore and better understand potential outcomes of plausible oil and gas, tourism and mining land use scenarios for the North Yukon Planning Region (Table S-1). Land use scenarios, and the detailed parameters for each scenario, were developed by domain experts and through research. A number of different scenarios for each sector were not examined, as the range of plausible scenarios was considered to be relatively low.

The complete document is now available at this link.