Mount McIntyre recreation area, a neighbourhood recreation

Document history: Last changes on February 10, 2014

The Logan Arkell Wetlands are part of the Hillcrest Meltwater Channel. The neighbourhoods of Copper Ridge, Arkell, Ingram, Logan and McIntyre all back onto the a high bank above the wetlands. There are over 4,000 residents. Walking opportunities depend on the seasons.

Looking at the area in a broader picture, to encourage active recreation, the Mount McIntyre trails need to become even more of a destination.

The Whitehorse cross-country Ski Club/Whitehorse Nordic Centre trails are a major asset to our neighbourhoods. There is much discussion happening around ways of recognizing neighbourhood use of city trails embedded within the Whitehorse Cross Country Ski Club trail system. Stay tuned.

This area also addressed in part by the walking above the airport page.

Background

This page is a backgrounder to the City's upcoming Park planning initiatives, as well as a focus on the need for a walking trail network on Mount McIntyre and the importance on having a specific voice for walking here. It's meant to prompt an initiative of jointly looking at the broader Mount McIntyre area from a stewardship point of view.

The Mount McIntyre area is a part of Whitehorse I've been interested in for some time. I actually started a list a few years ago with this simple list: Why this project?. To better understand the area, I'll look at mapping of physical and organizational/planning aspects and listing user group interests. The page will be updated as I learn about other materials, topics or different user activities.

"Get to the Ridge" route When we first moved to Hillcrest, a friend, looking out our kitchen window at the ridge of Mount McIntyre, remarked that it would be a nice hike to get up there starting from our house. Still today, I scheme for a best way to do this. With a good trail route, it's about a 15-km walk from our house to the summit of Mount McIntyre. At differing times, we've walked most of the way on neighbourhood trails, wood cutting trails, cutlines, ski trails and old mining roads. We sometimes drive up the Fish Lake Road and snowshoe on the ridge.

On the map to the right, the orange route, is my "Get to the Ridge" route. Ski Club trails are green, motorized trails are red, and yellow trails are the new proposed city non-motorized trails.

In 2012, the ski club worked on a new Skyline trail. In the summer of 2013, the City's trail crew completed a crossing of the Arkell wetlands between Copper Ridge subdivision and the ski trails. There's also a new trail called Starbuck's Revenge in the summit area. (These new trails and crossing are not yet shown on the map yet.)

A walking trail still isn't in place. In the summer, there's still no way across the McIntyre wetlands. In the winter, walkers are not allowed to cross over the ski trail area. Nor would walkers be allowed to use the ski trails up the mountain.

The slopes of Mount McIntyre are rugged, though there has been development in the past and more to come. The recreation area serves thousands of people. This page is an attempt to perk people's interest to understand the area. For general public use, trail making, trail marking and interpretation will be needed to allow them to confidently explore the land. This is an excellent place to think about the value of this area for walking tourism.

A terrifying, fascinating timelapse of 30 years of human impact on earth — go to the map at the bottom of this article; click until Whitehorse and the Mount McIntyre area is showing; then run the automation to see the growth of development here. One result of all this new development is that a number of neighbourhoods in the Copper Ridge area have not had time to really develop community associations, walking opportunities and trail making.

Natural history

Check out my Nature, geology, geography page for a general look at people, wildlife, birds, plants, geography and water in the Whitehorse area. However, I will highlight a few significant aspects below since they are such strong factors in the area. Still to come, I'm trying to get the fire history for the area.

Wildlife

As our use of land increases, we will inevitably see conflict with wildlife values. The references below give a sense that this happens both within established neighbourhoods and 'wilderness'.

• Human-Bear Conflict, Whitehorse and Southern Lakes
• Wildlife corridor assessment focusses on the middle McIntyre Creek area
• Maps of wildlife key areas: 1-Sheep, muskrat, beaver & mineral lick; 2-Woodland caribou, mountain goat, and Black and grizzly bears; 3 - Various ungulates and wolf; Set 4 - Waterfowl, raptors, and grouse
• Caribou herd ranges 2012
• McIntyre Marsh bird banding demonstration site

The first people in the area

• Late Wisconsinan McConnell glaciation of the Whitehorse map area (105D)

I find myself often wondering about the early people here and what their lives were like.

• Lu Zil Män - Fish Lake, uncovering the past gives a sense of that time.
• Ta'an Kwäch'än - People of the lake Ta'an Kwäch'än First Nation
  
• Désdélé Méné The archaeology of Annie Lake. Carcross Tagish First Nation
• The Frozen Past: The Yukon Ice Patches. Champagne & Aishihik First Nations. Carcross/Tagish First Nation. Kwanlin Dün First Nation. Kluane First Nation. Ta'an Kwäch'än Council.

The map to the right is roughly copied from First Nation traditional territories mapping. Copying over to Google Earth is crude at the moment for me. The Kwanlin Dün First Nation's traditional territory (pink outline) and Ta'an traditional territory (yellow outline) are so much larger than our local Whitehorse (green line is city limits). The Yukon-wide overview shows that other First Nation Traditional territories are at work here also.

Of course, the focus of this site is walking. I'm very curious where the lines of the traditional trails would go. (Hopefully, KML lines of mapping data can also be downloaded from Environment's site in the future.)

The land

A big story in this area is the geology. This part of the southern Yukon is an amazing land. How come our mountains are not better known? The map on the right shows some of the western names, based on the Gazetteer of Yukon.

• Viewing Whitehorse from above, A guide to Haeckel Hill • Thay T'äw looks at mountains from the top of the next hill over from Mount McIntyre
• Murray Lundberg wrote a column Enjoying Yukon summer about driving up Mount McIntyre.

The Whitehorse Copper Belt

The big story here is of the minerals that made early western people stay. Mines, roads and ruins of small cabins are found throughout the area. (A side project would be to make KML files of the mining features).

• The Whitehorse Copper Belt – an annotated geology map
  
• The Whitehorse Copper Belt, a booklet to accompany the annotated geology map
• Whitehorse Copper Belt: A simplified technical history, EGSD Open File 1993-2 (I)
• History of the Whitehorse Copper Belt, A EGSD Open File 1993-1(I)
• The Whitehorse Copper Belt - A Compilation, 1984, 1:25,000 map with marginal notes
• The Whitehorse Copper Belt: Mining, Exploration & Geology, 1967 - 1980, EGSD Bulletin 1
• Reclamation Practices
• The Copperbelt Railway & Mining Museum

Water

For walkers, streams, wetlands and other water bodies make non-winter walking difficult. The newly built, vastly improved Copper Ridge to Porcupine Ridge trail shows that a wetland crossing can add greatly to a community wellness approach to life.

Watersheds

Water from Mount McIntyre enters a number of watersheds (map to the right): Fish Lake, MacRae lakes, McLean Lake and McIntyre Creek (includes Yukon Electric's Fish Lake power plant drainage). A small number also rise on the slopes: Hillcrest Meltwater Channel, Porter Creek and Canyon, Copper and Basalt creeks.

• City GIS open data watersheds (KMLs can be opened with Google Earth)
• Porter Creek bench final environmental and special places background report, page 12 (watersheds)

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I've also attached a map highlighting water — I left the McIntyre Creek and MacLean Lake watersheds showing as outlines to help understand the networks of the water flow.

• City GIS open data lakes, rivers, streams, streams indefinite, and wetlands (KMLs can be opened with Google Earth)
• The power of water The story of hydropower in the Yukon
• Ninety years north The story of the Yukon Electrical Company Limited

2010 OCP designated parks

The 2010 OCP designated 5 formal city parks. See separate page for more background, maps

Stewardship

• How would a Park Management Plan fit for this area?
  • One overall view of area or regional stewardship? (middle McIntyre Creek, Nordic Ski, ...)
    
  • Public/non-profit/ad hoc? or administered by City's Whitehorse Trail Committee or an appointed Task Force style committee
    
  • membership by use, such as any trail user group; by broader land-based views; by individual
• Is there a best model for stewardship?
• here's a Parks Canada approach with part 2. being relevant in particular. Needs a plain language version!
  • A century of Parks Canada, 1911-2011, Chapter 10: Kluane National Park Reserve, 1923-1974: Modernity and pluralism, by David Neufeld, is an interesting story of one Yukon area's brush with stewardship and control.
  • With stewardship will come interpretation.

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A sampler of groups which have taken stewardship roles in the area

• An ad hoc committee was formed about 10 years ago as a reaction to the increased concern about protecting the ski trails. After the 2010 OCP established the McIntyre Creek Park, the committee went into dormancy. There were about 20+ user groups.
• The Whitehorse Cross-country Ski Club was intensively involved in the City's trail planning process of 1998 and in the 2002 and 2010 OCP planning processes. The club's main interest was in securing better land tenure for the area so that the future of the ski trail system would be more secure. It embarked on a course of action to encourage as many user groups as possible to use the area, and actively promoted orienteering, mountain bike development, dirt jump park, disc golf and other trail uses. It also initiated the Mount McIntyre Recreation Area User Group ad hoc committee to begin a coordinated effort to protect the area. See more below. Current trail map
• Kwanlin Koyotes: Gary Bailie said that the program is part of Kwanlin Dun's "Back to the Land" philosophy... cross country skiing is a perfect sport for the Yukon, and gives the opportunity for the students to learn an appreciation for the land. While out on the trails, the students are taught about animal tracks, and how to identify the critters that left them, as well as different plants and trees. "When they develop a passion for the land they're going to want to protect it," Bailie said. "(They learn) just by going there and having fun along the way."
• Friends of McIntyre Creek (FOMC) is a group of people working to care for the McIntyre Creek watershed. See more below.
• The area is often used by Elijah Smith school. Paddy's Pond, a neighbourhood resource is a botany booklet created with Elijah Smith Grade 3 students, Kwanlin Dün's Dianne Smith, and above-the-airport resident Peter Long. Peter is also author of this whitehorsewalks.com website. See more below.
• Ta'an Kwäch'än First Nation participation in the clean-up of the old dump site at the mouth of McIntyre Creek Range Road dump stabilization project noted as Objectives: "2. Provide training, stewardship, employment opportunities, and build capacity in the TKC Traditional Territory. 3. Promote awareness of salmon, and foster a stewardship ethic within the City of Whitehorse." They also have a report Ta'an Kwäch'än Council community stewardship project
• the Yukon Bird Club is dedicated to promoting awareness, appreciation, and conservation of Yukon birds and their habitats. Regular field trips led by skilled and enthusiastic birders explore some of the Yukon's best birding areas.

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• Here's a partial list of groups that have land or trail-effort thoughts....Voices about trails and greenspaces
• Here's background about ethics
• Why do we live here? A real perk is quiet, peace, solitude.

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There's also a more trail-based approach to looking at an area. I imagine this list could expand:

• The City's Trail and Greenways Committee is comprised of department representatives, as well as stakeholders and users of the Whitehorse Trail System. The committee discusses and makes recommendations based on the 2007 Trail Plan's guiding principles, with particular focus on stewardship, public education, and respectful use of Whitehorse trails. The committee also creates neighbourhood trail task forces with a motorized/non-motorized trail network focus, with a requirement that membership be 50% motorized, as well as mountain bikes, trail runners representation; then neighbourhoods are brought in.
• Klondike Snowmobile Club and other motorized user groups use roads and trails to access the backcountry on the other side of the mountain
• mountain bikers are planning trails; Contagious Mountain Bike Club has its Adopt-a-trail program; it also has a Mount McIntyre page.
• dog mushers hold races
• Whitehorse Copper Trail (23.76 km; gravel) is part of the Trans Canada Trail and designated for walking/hiking, biking, horseback riding, cross-country skiing, snowmobiling, ATVs — please note that local authorities do allow motorized vehicles (ATVs and snowmobiles,...) on this so be aware.

Land uses in the general area

• Endowment lands finalized. How this will affect McIntyre Creek land will be interesting to watch. Will it clear a hurdle for the city to again try to open Porter Creek D as Whistle Bend fills? Stay tuned....
• COW Planning Department is tasked with initial look at Park Management Plan.
• Capital budget last year allocated that Planning would get $60,000 for each of 2014, 2015 and 2016 for Park Management Plans
  
• Range Road planning study has proposals about land at the mouth of McIntyre Creek
• COW Public Works maintains snow dumps in places such as Copper Ridge

First Nation Settlement Lands (map right). Ta'an Kwäch'än land is shown as orange, Kwanlin Dün is purple. Note that accuracy is rough as data copied from PDF maps. KML versions of these areas would be very useful, especially when trying to show small blocks of land.

In this map (left), bright pink is the ski club (see next section for more on this), pale brown is residential areas, pale pink is industrial/commercial/public uses. Pale yellow is crown grants. This is a very rough map to give a sense of development.

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Mining

• Mining interests are asserting rights over lands in the general area; the city says not so fast.
• Energy, Mines and Resources has a mining map viewer: I set up a link to quartz claims; the map is live and can be played with!
• I made a rough Google Earth map to show the story. The brown and dark yellow are quartz claims. Yellow is parks and protected areas withdrawn from staking mineral claims; the darker yellow is quartz claims in this area. The staking withdrawal only prohibits new claims from being staked within the area. Existing claims are unaffected. Once they lapse, however, they cannot be re-staked. Claims are both existing and pending. (Thanks to Energy, Mines and Resources, Yukon government for use of the data).

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Hunting

1987 Firearms Bylaw 2006-17
... to prevent or regulate the firing of guns or other firearms,...within the City of Whitehorse.
"Firearm" shall include airguns, air-pistols, BB gun, BB pistol or any spring-loaded or spring-fired type of weapon designed to fire a BB pellet, shot or slug and any bow and sharp or metal clad arrow or sling shot.
3. No person shall fire or discharge a firearm within the limits of the City of Whitehorse unless authorized by the Chief Constable.

• Outfitting concessions #17
• Miscellaneous maps used primarily for hunting purposes.
• Hunting game management zones (see page 2, Whitehorse Inset)
• Registered trapline concessions for 105D.

Whitehorse Cross-country Ski Club/Whitehorse Nordic Centre

Discussion document:

Snowshoe, Hike in Mount McIntyre Recreation Area

Notes:

• Only two trails cross the Arkell wetlands. None cross the McIntyre Wetlands in the summer. Winter access across the trail system to get to the Copper Haul Road also needs to be on the table. See get to the Ridge.
  A crossing near Best Chance Corner is a possible solution.
• the Whitehorse Cross-country Ski Club (WCCSC) operates the Whitehorse Nordic Centre. Shown on the map (right) as reddish shading and also discussed on the club's Future of Ski trails page
• Summer use of WCCSC trails is for any non-motorized use: May 1 thru September 31, as per weather.
• One neat aspect of the club's area is that, summer and winter, it is non-motorized, so no ATVs, no motorcycles and no snowmobiles — a place where we can savor tranquility. It would be a shame if this area was to become motorized through the new city trails. The Protected Areas By-law is coming up for renewal.

• Winter trail use of WCCSC trail network is from October 1 thru April 30, as per weather
• In the winter, the ski club enforces a pass system for the area

• trails are open 24 hours per day
• Benefits to membership in Ski Club
• in terms of watersheds, club trails mostly lie on the easternmost Hillcrest Meltwater Channel (purple outline; which has no above ground outflow) and the McIntyre Creek watershed (cyan line)
• The WCCSC trail network is solidly placed in the heart of McIntyre Creek Park (green polygon with orange border)

Friends of McIntyre Creek (FOMC)

Friends of McIntyre Creek (FOMC) is a group of people working to care for the McIntyre Creek watershed.

• A significant part of their energy has been focussed on a proposed Porter Creek D, currently shelved for a few years. This has required them to focus a lot on the Middle McIntyre Creek area.
• FOMC has just initiated 4 new walking trails in middle McIntyre Creek.

Above-the-airport neigbourhoods (ATA)

Above-the-airport (ATA) Trails and Greenspaces Committee is a group of Hillcrest and Granger and Copper Ridge people who have been involved in looking at the ATA area, in part the wetlands bounding the Copper Ridge – McIntyre area and the slopes of Mt McIntyre, in broad terms of both stewardship and recreation use. Kwanlin Dun First Nation is an ATA neighbourhood, a large land owner and the park is in their traditional area.

Here's a recent update to walking in the area.

One of our initial steps was looking at trails at Paddy's Pond, and the dangers of motor vehicles on the Tobbagan hill.

The City is presently digesting the results of an "Above the Airport" area motorized/non-motorized trail network and we await the next steps.

• thin yellow are neighbourbood and other trails (these are not complete)
• green are City-adopted (COW) trails, draft result of current ATA trail task force
• With good crossings, here's some sample walking routes. Lets look at a few neighbourhood loop trails that could become a walking network. Think of walking about 4 km per hour for a moderate pace; think about taking a daily walk and the trail variety you'd like to use as you walk from your home. Loops: map 1: 1.5 (requires crossing A), 3 kms; and map 2: 3, 8 kms
  

Other thoughts

We have 3 museums in the area

• The Copperbelt Railway & Mining Museum
• Yukon Beringia Interpretive Centre. Great potential to tell about glacial time, glacial lake, melt water channels, and what it was like in southern Yukon over the time of glacial melting
• Yukon Transporatation Museum
• Mount Sima
• There's a NavCan navigation beacon at summit of Mount McIntyre
• Gravel quarries
• Zoning
• needs a forest fire history map for the area

Trails

There are paved, dirt, rough and very rough roads, ski, motorized, bike, walk trails. I'll try to make a couple of maps soon.

• See Places to walk, guides, maps
• See 3 mountain roads

Document history

February 10, 2014. some updates around integrating an updated look at the above-the-airport area.

November 17, 2013. updated part of WCCSC section

November 9, 2013. I've merged the old Logan Arkell Wetlands page into this page for simplicity in maintenance. I also updated winter use rules for WCCSC area.

November 7, 2013. Endowment lands finalized. How this will affect McIntyre Creek Park will be interesting to watch. Will it clear a hurdle for the city to again try to open Porter Creek D as Whistle Bend fills? Stay tuned....

October 24, 2013. Background section rewritten.

October 22, 2013. A couple of maps yet to show —city Zoning and quarries. But for now, I'll make this public and see what feedback I get. I'm sure I've missed things, and mapping is a work in progress.

October 21, 2013. Page put on-line.