Revised - The Yukon Fish and Game Association (YFGA) isn’t a happy camper with the Yukon government’s plans for managing thinhorn sheep in the southwest Yukon.

“The Yukon Fish and Game Association is raising concerns over a proposed management decision by the Yukon Government (YG) that lacks transparency and appears to be hastily executed without proper consultation or consideration of alternative measures,” the organization said in a statement Wednesday.

“When conservation measures or mitigative actions are required to assist with the recovery of wildlife populations, the YFGA will support appropriate approaches based on scientific information, local and traditional knowledge, and fact-based, transparent decision-making.”

That’s not the case with the current government decision following evidence the sheep population around the Kluane area is crashing, the association said.

“Unfortunately, while there may be a valid potential concern affecting sheep, the approach taken by YG to date appears to be very reactive to limited information, singularly focused on the reduction of harvesting opportunities and promoting a concept of adaptive management which appears to be circumventing the current regulatory change process managed by the Yukon Fish and Wildlife Management Board,” the association says.

There has been no demonstrated consideration of all contributing factors that could be affecting sheep populations, the association added.

“The limited consultation and engagement on these matters to date raises many questions, and in the absence of full transparency and thorough consideration of all available information, it is difficult to determine if there is truly a significant issue requiring conservation measures or if it is indeed all just rhetoric.

“We have heard clearly from our members and the public that the approach being taken by YG is unacceptable.”

The YFGA has reached out to Environment Minister Nils Clarke inviting him and his staff to participate in a public meeting hosted by the YFGA.

It’s awaiting a response. (See association’s full statement on p. 17.)

Mark Nassiopoulos, the co-chair of the Alsek Renewable Resource Council, spoke to the Star on Thursday about the situation.

He said the council didn’t feel the consultation process was followed properly by the government at first.

He said the council, under the Final Agreement with the Champagne and Aishihik First Nations, has a duty to consult with the public, and the Yukon government has a duty to consult with the council.

Nassiopoulos said he thinks that process was somewhat sidestepped in the sheep situation, but that the government is now moving to correct that.

“We really wanted to ensure public consultation,” he said. “I’ll give credit to the government – they are now going that way.”

In November, government biologists reported steep declines in the mountain sheep population in the Kluane region.

Throughout the Kluane region, researchers have been noticing a trend for the last two years of a declining Dall sheep population.

Specifically, there have been fewer lambs being born and surviving, biologist Kyle Russell has said.

The trend was first noticed in 2022 as regular surveys were taken post-winter, he said.

More surveys in 2023 reinforced what the first survey was seeing.

The surveys undertaken this year were expanded beyond the 2022 surveys, including the well-known Sheep Mountain area, he said.

In some places, the decline was “severe,” he said.

“It was quite a significant decline,” according to Russell.

The culprit, biologists suspect, is the heavy snow the southwest Yukon has seen in the last three years.

The winters of 2020-2021 and 2021-2022 were particularly heavy, Russell said.

In some places, the snow was 400 per cent greater than normal.

He and his colleagues are speculating the sheep couldn’t handle the increased snow-load as well as they might have.

The exceptional winters also fall within the sheeps’ normal cycle of crashing populations that happens on an eight- to 11-year basis, Russell said.

“The Yukon’s thinhorn sheep is an iconic species that is significant to our territory,” Clarke said last month.

“Recent population declines are concerning, and action must be taken to avoid potentially irreversible impacts.

“We acknowledge the importance of sheep to Yukon First Nations, resident hunters, the outfitting industry and all Yukoners.

“We are committed to working with partners to protect them for current and future generations.”

Consultation, which began last month, is scheduled to be completed by early 2024.