Public tapped for Tombstone Park thoughts

More than 12,000 people visited the Yukon’s Tombstone Territorial Park interpretative centre in 2012.

Many more passed through the park, bisected by the Dempster Highway.

Straddling the continental divide, part of the park is in the Yukon River watershed and the other part is in the Peel.  The upper Blackstone River – both  the east and west branch – as well as the Blackstone uplands and part of the Hart River winter trail lie within the park’s boundaries. (Click here for map)

Since the 2,200-sq.km. park north of Dawson City was established by the Yukon and Tr’ondek Hwech’in governments in the late 1990s,  its popularity has gone nowhere but up.

And that’s not expected to change.

Managing that growth is part of the challenge faced by the park’s joint management committee.

It’s currently reviewing the three-year-old management plan and its 91 “action items” to see how things are panning out.

Only about six items have been completed to date.

The intrepretative centre is a big draw.

One of the first and largest was the building of a new interpretative centre. The multimillion-dollar facility opened for business in 2011 and staff housing at the site has also now been completed, says a draft progress report by the committee.

Workers have also developed interpretative programs, improved signage, streamlined permitting and experimented with online registration for some backcountry users.

But much remains to be done.

Among the top priorities is developing plans to deal with visitor service activity and to manage heritage sites and resources.

The report says other priorities should include identifying the financial and human resources required to make other items in the management plan a reality, as well as developing necessary regulations.

The two governments have worked well together so far, and need to continue to co-operate, the report says.

“Effective collaboration between Parks Branch and Tr’ondek Hwech’in has been a key factor in the successful implementation of the park management plan and the parties remain committed to working together to implement the plan,” it says.

Before preparing its final progress report, the committee wants to know what the public thinks about the park’s plans and priorities.

It’s holding public meetings/open houses in Whitehorse and Dawson City.

It’s also put up a website dedicated to the management plan’s review. The site, www.tombstonepark.ca, has links to the 2009 management plan, its 91 action items, the 2013 draft progress report as well as an online survey and contact information.

The Whitehorse meeting is March 6 from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the Yukon Inn.

There are two meetings in Dawson City – both are at the Danoja Zho Cultural Centre. One for the general public is on March 12 from 3 p.m. to 8 p.m. and another for Tr’ondek Hwech’in citizens is on March 13 from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. with dinner at 5:30 p.m.

The public has until April 7 to submit comments.