• Main Author: Erik Val
• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Subjects: Fishing Branch; Northern Rockies; Posi; Tive; Yukon; Beaufort Sea; First Nations; Whitehorse; Alaska
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.644.7256; http://www.georgewright.org/252val.pdf

In 2000, a jointly developed and approved management plan identified ob-jectives and guidelines to protect the area’s natural and cultural resources. The plan further identified the essential conditions to allow for commercial grizzly bear viewing in the protected area. After fulfilling these con-ditions, a controlled pilot bear-viewing trial started in Fishing Branch Protected Area in fall 2006. This paper will document the steps taken over the last ten years to prepare for commercial bear viewing at Fishing Branch Protected Area. Comparisons will be made to other bear-viewing operations in Alaska and northern British Columbia. The paper will conclude with a summary of lessons learned related to cooperatively preparing for and managing such activities in remote wilderness areas. This case study demonstrates the posi-tive role land claims can have in promoting conservation and the effectiveness of part-nerships in protected areas management, especially related to the development of a new, highly specialized activity within the wilderness-tourism industry. Geographic, historic, and political context The Yukon is one of Canada’s three northern territories and spans an area from the Northern Rockies in British Columbia to the Beaufort Sea. While large in area (450,000 km2), the territory is sparsely pop-ulated (30,000). First Nations (a term which denotes most of Canada’s indige-nous peoples) make up about a fifth of the population. The city of Whitehorse is the service center and seat of government for the Yukon. Fifteen small, predominately First Nation villages are scattered across the