The Muskwa-Kechika Management Area (M-K) is a 16-millon-acre wilderness in northern British Columbia – one of the largest expanses of intact wild land left on the North American continent. There are many extraordinary things about the M-K. It contains 50 contiguous, roadless watersheds; it supports caribou, elk, moose, and Stone's sheep as well as wolves, mountain lions, and three distinct grizzly bear populations; and people have sustained their lives and cultures there for thousands of years.
Equally extraordinary – especially considering how few people have heard of this remote area, and how rich it is in natural resources – is the fact that a group of persistent, forward-thinking, and mostly local individuals managed to secure legislation that protects the M-K under a novel and innovative tiered management plan. Three of those individuals, Wayne Sawchuk, Brian Churchill, and George Smith, have served on the Y2Y board.
The goal of this unique management plan is to establish a world standard for environmental sustainability and economic stability, with development conducted in ways that maintain wildlife and wilderness values. The M-K plan was the first, and remains one of the only models in which theories of conservation biology are applied to real-world development.
Thus far, no resource companies have come forward to lead the way in proving that development can indeed occur with little or no permanent environmental impact. The M-K could be a proving ground for new technologies and methods – and perhaps our rapidly changing financial and environmental climate will ignite a surge of interest in, and commitment to, a new way of doing business within the resource industry.
Many uncertainties remain, including a definitive grasp of the precise technological and operational methodologies that would allow resource extraction without the typical resultant habitat destruction or fragmentation. But companies willing to meet the challenges of the M-K will not only reap the resource rewards, they will also distinguish themselves and gain a great market advantage among consumers by demonstrating that they are “clean and green.”
Y2Y has identified the M-K as one of its Priority Areas because of its potential in expanding the field of conservation biology, its great ecological value, and its grizzly bear populations. The M-K's grizzly bears are currently connected to other populations to the north, and they appear to be tenuously connected across the Peace River Break to southerly populations in the Canadian Rocky Mountain Park system. Maintaining this connection between bears in the M-K and bears in the Rocky Mountain Parks is a primary goal of the Y2Y Grizzly Bear Conservation Strategy.
We are working with a number of partners in the M-K, most notably CPAWS-BC, which has been leading conservation efforts for the past several years. We are also working with the University of Northern British Columbia, the Kaska Dene First Nations, and Sierra Club of BC. One project planned for the area is a comprehensive conservation assessment. Y2Y is taking the lead on that, and is currently working to raise funds. An important aspect of the assessment will be to identify the best grizzly bear habitats and locate critical wildlife corridors, and determine how they relate to the M-K's mosaic of protected areas and special management zones. That will enable us to do some modeling and track how those habitats are expected to shift over the next 50 to 100 years, particularly as climate change impacts the landscape.
In addition to these strategic assessment efforts, Y2Y and its partners will work to educate the rest of North America and the world about the importance of the M-K, and look for energy companies ready to lead resource development into a more promising future.
Of course, beneath the strategies, goals, and other abstract complexities of conservation and management is a landscape deeply loved and appreciated by the human communities living there. The M-K comprises a large part of the traditional territory of the Kaska Dena Nation as well as some Treaty 8 First Nations. Y2Y is working to understand how best to support the Kaska Dene people and collaborate with them for good conservation outcomes. Y2Y is also committed to the hunters, trappers, and outfitters who make their lives there, too, and who rely on an economy based on the intactness and bounty of the land. The M-K is a true treasure and opportunity within the Yellowstone to Yukon region.