Projects

South of 60

• Land Use Planning
• Thematic Mapping

North of 60

• Negotiations
• Dubawnt and Upper Thelon Land Use Planning

North of 60 Dubawnt and Upper Thelon Land and Resource Planning Process.

Updated March 2009

BACKGROUND

The Athabasca Denesuline, Akaitcho Dene and NWT Metis have a mutual interest in the conservation of the Dubawnt and Upper Thelon Watershed area for protection of continued traditional land use and occupancy as well as caribou and other wildlife and their habitat. The region is becoming increasingly popular for mining exploration activities.

In response to rising concerns regarding industrial development in the region, Minister Strahl introduced this land use and resource planning initiative. Together, the Athabasca Denesuline, Akaitcho Dene and NWT Metis along with the Governments of the Northwest Territories and Canada aim to develop a land and resource plan to guide and balance industrial and conservation oriented activities in the region.

In the fall of 2008 the Athabasca Denesuline developed a draft work plan and budget to initiate to planning process. Since December 2008 we have had four planning sessions and conducted technical work focussing on:

• Development of our vision and objectives;
• Definition of the planning area;
• Exploration of conservation areas;
• Identification of issues of concern for special management areas; and,
• Initiation of collaboration with our planning partners.

ATHABASCA DENESULINE VISION

To manage the use of the land, water, and the resources of the Dubawnt and Upper Thelon watersheds in a manner that will fully recognize treaty and aboriginal rights, protect significant cultural and ecological values and provide guidelines for sustainable resource development that benefits our communities.

ATHABASCA DENESULINE OBJECTIVES

The objectives of the Athabasca Denesuline in the Dubawnt and Upper Thelon region land use plan are to:

• Recognize Treaty and aboriginal rights;
• Protect cultural values;
• Protect ecological values, especially caribou;
• Develop and enforce guidelines and standards for sustainable resource development, and;
• Provide economic development opportunities to members.

PROPOSED PLANNING AREA

The Athabasca Denesuline proposed land use planning boundary was based on the Dubawnt and Upper Thelon watersheds because they:

• Are large, easily identifiable natural landscape features; and
• Encompass the major area of overlap between recorded Athabasca Denesuline traditional land use and occupancy and mineral exploration activities in the region.

CREATING A CONSERVATION ZONE

To create an effective conservation zone, a number of factors were explored including connectivity of the landscape, access to water, traditional land use and occupancy and areas or features identified as important for wildlife habitat.

The major factors used to determine conservation value were areas identified as important for wildlife habitat and recorded traditional land use and occupancy, including:

• Lakes and rivers
• Recorded caribou water crossing sites
• Cabins and occupation sites
• Burial sites
• Archaeological sites
• Travel routes and trap lines
• Areas of interest for mineral exploration
• Wetlands

To incorporate these factors into one analysis, lakes and rivers (1:7,500,000) were buffered by 2km and 5km to address the ideas of connectivity and following natural landscape features.

• The 5km buffer was chosen for areas with a higher frequency of recorded traditional land use and occupancy as well as recorded caribou water crossings to ensure inclusion of the data.
• The 2km buffer was chosen for areas with lower frequency of recorded traditional land use and occupancy data to ensure connectivity along major water networks for movement across the landscape.

A combination of the 2km and 5km buffer analysis resulted in an initial proposed conservation zone as illustrated to the right which is connected across the landscape and covers a large parcel of land. Currently, the proposed conservation zone covers 57% of the study area. The remaining 43% of the proposed planning area is currently being assessed for special management and development zones.

The next steps include:

• Further refinement of the proposed conservation zone;
• Identification of special management areas and development of terms and conditions to address any land and resource use and access concerns in special management areas; and
• Collaboration with our planning partners.

ATHABASCA DENESULINE LAND AND RESOURCE USE AND ACCESS PLANNING CONCERNS

The Athabasca Denesuline proposed Dubawnt and Upper Thelon watershed land use planning region is an area where overlapping land uses occur in the same space such as traditional land use and occupancy, conservation, recreation, infrastructure, wildlife, wildlife habitats and industrial development. Thus, this region requires specific attention to concerns of all parties involved to clarify protocols for suitable activities, dispute resolution and land use activity priority.

The Athabasca Denesuline concerns in the region include:

Traditional Land Use and Occupancy

• Cabins
• Travel routes
• Trap lines
• Fish
• Burial sites
• Sacred and spiritual sites
• Unrecorded or unknown archaeological sites

Consultation and Benefits

• Inadequate consultation/follow-up on licences and permits
• Ability to use land to exercise harvesting rights
• Revenue sharing
• Compensation for trappers
• Trappers assistance
• Lack of short and/or long term benefits for Athabasca Denesuline
• Treaty and aboriginal rights confirmed
• Conflicting land uses

Conservation and Wildlife

• Waters
• Trees and plants
• Musk-ox
• Caribou water crossings
• Caribou calving and post-calving grounds
• Caribou migration routes
• Grizzly bear
• Wildlife
• Cumulative effects of development on caribou
• Underrepresented ecosystems
• General environment

Environmental Responsibility

• Forest fire management
• Cleanup and remediation
• Community based monitoring
• Disruption of special ecological and cultural places