Novawest & Brightstar (PGE)

[Ed Monton]

A lot of the silt in the Yukon River enters from the White River, a glacier fed river which comes out of Kluane and is so named because of its high silt load. The Pelly and Stewart rivers contribute as well. In the Southern Yukon, the river runs through many lakes and the water is as clear as can be.

I can't agree with your statement that in the whole history of placer mining in the Yukon there hasn't been a reduction in fish population. I would argue that the streams of the Klondike; Eldorado, Rabbit, Bonanza etc were good fish habitat in 1898 but not shortly thereafter. Once the rush was on it wasn't just the fish who had problems. Along the trail in the Southern Yukon, whole populations of Caribou were wiped out by those heading to the Klondike.

In the early 1900's the whole lower portion of the Klondike River valley was dredged. I imagine that part of the river was void of fish during that time as a result.

Not that I'm a fan of DFO.

By the way, there's some nice grayling streams in the upper reaches of the Klondike, south of the Ogilvie Mountains.



tf