Doctoral dissertation: Searching for mine reclamation success in the Yukon
Publications
Isbister K, Piper L, Landhäusser SM. 2025. Perceptions of reclamation success as “as close as possible to the pre-mining state undermine public participation and Indigenous consent in mineral governance. FACETS 10: 1-13. https://doi.org/10.1139/facets-2025-0039.
Yukoners conceptualize quartz mine reclamation success as “as close as possible to the pre-mining state”. This is concerning for a number of reasons, including that:
quartz mining is not reversible
an understanding of realistic reclamation outcomes is needed to accurately assess the trade-offs of a proposed mine
Impact assessment is a point of no return and there is no going back. The questions are how will the land change and are those changes acceptable?
Other research outputs
Op-Ed to the Yukon News: Quartz mine reclamation in the Yukon – the past is also the present
Webinar: The past is also the present
I was grateful for the opportunity to present on some ongoing history research with my good friend and colleague Caitlynn Beckett in collaboration with CPAWS Yukon.
It turns out that regulating reclamation in the Yukon is not a new thing and has consistently failed to produce acceptable reclamation outcomes over the last 50 years. Most of the mechanisms proposed for the new mineral legislation have already been tried and are unlikely to produce different results. There’s a great opportunity to learn from reclamation’s past to identify where the current legislation is insufficient and consider how new legislation could directly address these issues.