The Southern Lakes Wildlife Coordinating Committee says all levels of government need to keep working together to manage wildlife such as moose and caribou in that region of the Yukon.
That’s the overall theme of a series of draft recommendations put forward this week for public comment.
The committee is hosting an open house at the Mount McIntyre Recreation Centre in Whitehorse tonight from 6:30 to 9 p.m. and another in Tagish on Feb. 9.
“We want to see if we’re on the right track and sort of tweak our draft recommendations,” said committee co-chair Tom Jung. “Maybe there are some big items that we’ve missed.”
The committee was created in 2008 to co-ordinate the efforts of various regional governments in habitat management and wildlife protection.
It was set up under the terms of the Carcross/Tagish and Kwanlin Dun First Nation Final Agreements.
“This is a unique committee in the Yukon because it’s something that is driven from final agreements,” said Jung.
The Committee is made up of six First Nation governments as well as representatives of the federal, territorial and B.C. governments.
Although its mandate expires at the end of March, co-chair Dave Sembsmoen is confident the various governments will continue to work together.
“Over the last four years I think we’ve achieved some pretty good co-operative management principles and I think based on that we’re moving forward,” said Sembsmoen.
“The recommendations are really a spring board for bringing the governments together to continue working in a co-ordinated fashion for the benefit of wildlife in the southern lakes area.”
A list of the draft recommendations can be found on the committee’s website, www.yfwcm.ca/slwcc.
The committee is also accepting written comments from the public. The deadline for comments is Feb. 27.
Contact Josh Kerr at joshk@yukon-news.com