Media Release October 28, 2011

Groups cry foul over McIntyre Creek Report
The Friends of McIntyre Creek and YCS are shocked at the City of Whitehorse‟s spin on a
McIntyre Creek Wildlife Corridor Assessment.

A City press Release says that the EDI report concludes that Porter Creek D and proposed roads
along and across McIntyre Creek would not negatively impact wildlife, provided mitigation
measures are undertaken.

“That‟s just plain nonsense,” said YCS Executive Director Karen Baltgailis. “Do City Planners
really think that Whitehorse residents are so stupid as to believe that clearing most of the forests
on all the flat land north of McIntyre Creek between the Alaska Highway and Mountainview
Drive, and building roads along and across the creek will not impact wildlife?”

City Planners say that the high level of recreational use of the area is already impacting wildlife.
And City Planners quote the EDI report as saying that the area should not be managed as a
movement corridor for large mammals like bear and moose because of the potential for human wildlife conflicts. The EDI report proposes that a 250 meter natural buffer will solve the human wildlife conflicts and provide sufficient habitat and travel corridors for wildlife.

“It‟s unbelievable,” says Friends of McIntyre Creek President Dorothy Bradley. “It is astonishing
that the EDI report suggests that developing all the flat land north of the creek except a 250
meter buffer will improve the situation. Just imagine all of the people, dogs and wildlife
crammed into 250 meters – now we‟ll really see human-wildlife conflicts!”

“The area is already a travel corridor for large mammals,” says Baltgailis. “Do the planners
really think that bears are going to stop coming into the area? Imagine the conflicts once there
are houses and garbage cans right in their path.”

The groups are critical of several aspects of EDI‟s study. It only looks at the area as a movement
corridor for mammals, rather than as habitat for the wildlife that actually live there. In particular, birds were not studied at all. And the study only took place from spring to early fall of one year.

“The City obviously wanted certain answers and it appears that EDI gave them those answers,”
said Baltgailis. “The City kept the parameters of the study narrow, and now they‟re „spinning‟
the results. Just because no species would go extinct if Porter Creek D is built does not mean that
this is not a special place for wildlife, and for people.”

YCS and the Friends of McIntyre Creek are considering resigning from the Porter Creek D
Working Group.
“We were told when we agreed to be in the group that no decisions had been made and our input
about the values of McIntyre Creek would be duly considered as the City decides whether to
move ahead with development in Middle McIntyre Creek,” said Baltgailis. It was extremely
inappropriate for the City to send out a media release about the EDI report before it is available
to the public, or even to the Porter Creek D Working Group.

And it was even more inappropriate to then „spin‟ this report to say that the wildlife that use McIntyre Creek are not important. The people who use this area every day all year long will tell you that McIntyre Creek is important to wildlife, and to people!”