Careful planning and discussion can prevent the irrevocable loss
of unique habitats and places of deep cultural or historical
importance. It only makes sense that society would want to
investigate and flag areas that are important to people before
allowing them to be arbitrarily trampled, bulldozed, blasted,
dammed, cut down or covered by a tailings pond. In fact, that’s
the process the Yukon and Canadian governments agreed to follow
in the Umbrella Final Agreement. After a comprehensive and
inclusive 6 year land-use planning process in the Peel
Watershed, the Yukon government is now balking at accepting the
Peel Watershed Planning Commission's Final Recommended Plan.
Instead, government created its own plan and concepts, behind
closed doors, that allow roads throughout the entire watershed
and an increase in development. This could have grave
consequences for the Peel Watershed, one of the continent’s last
great wilderness areas. It could also erode public confidence in
future land-use planning exercises in