The Peel River watershed in Canada’s Yukon is a vast landscape of mountains, valleys, rivers and boreal forest. It is also the traditional territory of the Na-Cho Nyäk Dun, Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in, Teetl’it Gwich’in and Vuntut Gwitchin First Nations.
For generations, the Peel has sustained people and wildlife alike. But the region has also faced pressure from mining and other industrial development. In the 2000s, First Nations and conservation groups began working to protect the watershed through a comprehensive land-use plan.
Wilderness International joined this effort by helping bring international attention to the Peel and creating opportunities for young people, researchers and community members to experience this remarkable landscape firsthand.
The Peel River watershed is made up of three major river systems surrounded by rugged mountains, broad valleys and boreal forest. Much of the landscape has remained largely untouched by industrial development.
Its remote and diverse habitats support a remarkable range of wildlife, including bears, wolves, wolverines, moose and caribou. The watershed is also home to plant species with a long history of use by the region’s Indigenous peoples.
For the Teetl’it Gwich’in, the Peel is much more than a wilderness area. It is part of their traditional territory and an important part of their history, culture and way of life.
It makes me incredibly sad to imagine that our home in Canada might one day be marred by open-cast mining, roads and eroded mountains. It’s just awful – it’s hard to put my sadness into words!
In 2007 and 2008, Teetl’it Gwich’in community members and Wilderness International travelled together through the Peel watershed before meeting again in Germany.
The expeditions brought younger and older generations together on their traditional lands and created opportunities for cultural exchange. In Germany, members of the Teetl’it Gwich’in shared their experiences and visited places including an open-pit coal mine and Saxon Switzerland National Park. The contrast highlighted what was at stake: landscapes shaped by industrial development alongside a vast region of wilderness that remained largely intact.
At a time when thousands of mining claims existed in the region and the future of the Peel was being debated through a land-use planning process, the expeditions helped bring international attention to the campaign to protect the watershed.
The story also reached a wider audience through film, television and other media. The award-winning documentary Land of the Painted Mountains follows the first expedition to the Peel, sharing the experiences of young people from Germany and members of Canadian First Nations. Other films and reports document the journeys, the landscape and the people involved in the campaign to protect the Peel.
When the legal dispute over the Peel land-use plan reached the Supreme Court of Canada, Wilderness International renewed its involvement.
In 2017, a second expedition brought together Gwich’in and German youth, elders, scientists and conservationists. The journey provided an opportunity to reconnect with the land, learn more about its ecological and cultural significance, and strengthen international support for its protection.
The expedition also supported scientific research in the region. Several studies were carried out, including research into medicinal plants, with four papers subsequently published on their properties.
In 2017, the Supreme Court of Canada upheld key elements of the Peel land-use plan. The final plan provides for permanent protection of approximately 80% of the Peel River watershed — around 55,858 km² of ecologically and culturally significant wilderness.
For the First Nations who have long advocated for the protection of the region, the decision was an important recognition of their rights and land-use planning process.
The case also became an important milestone in Canadian environmental and Indigenous law, demonstrating the significance of First Nations-led land-use planning in decisions about the future of their traditional territories.
Protecting the Peel was never the work of one organisation. It was the result of years of advocacy, legal action, community leadership and public support.
Wilderness International is grateful to the people and organisations who contributed to this effort, including:
The story of the Peel shows what can happen when communities stand together to protect the places that matter to them — and when that work receives support far beyond the region itself.
