From supranational to intertribal - Governing Transboundary Waters: Canada, the United States, and Indigenous Communities - page 69

basin-wide water management plan - one that crosses jurisdictions of all kinds.
The Watershed Plan is the first of its kind. It incorporates years of discussions and
dialogues between member tribes and First Nations.
The YRITWC lives between worlds. It can arguably be seen as a “glocal” river,
which appeals to a global community, yet is grounded in local practice. The extra-
basin outreach is seen as instrumental to meeting the YRITWC mission, as it helps
secure funds for ongoing projects and helps build allies. Waterhouse considers
campaigning for the river to be central to his mission. Travelling the world,
Waterhouse highlights the need to keep the Yukon wild, to protect the river for
the Tribes and First Nations that rely on it.
The media outreach has even been aired on prime-time television, such as Super
Bowl advertisements in the United States - with upwards of 111 million viewers
on game day. The YRITWC has also been highlighted in award-winning
documentaries that have aired on the Public Broadcasting Service, adding to the
awareness-building campaign. Playing on the romantic notions of the river, as “one
of the last 'untouched' rivers in the world”, is making the Yukon River accessible
to those who will likely never see it in person.
Even though the campaign takes a global stand, the foundation of the
organization is very much based on the people that live along its banks, grounded
in traditional practice and committed to consensus-based governance.
The Yukon's reputation of being one of the last “wild” rivers in the world
holds some water. Along its entire length, it only has four bridges that cross its
water, the last of which is the Patton Bridge on the Dalton Highway, which was
completed in 1975 as part of the Trans-Alaska Pipelines project. It remains the
only bridge crossing the Yukon River in Alaska. Until 1957, the river was also
free of dams. The only dam is above the town of Whitehorse, providing power
for its town by flooding Whitehorse canyon and creating Lake Schwatka (Coates,
2013).
Although in comparison with other international rivers, the Yukon is rela-
tively “untouched”, the river's ecosystem is threatened by activities such as
commercial fishing, pollution resulting from resource extraction, deforestation along
its banks, and environmental issues such as global climate change impacts upon its
ecosystems.
The multijurisdictional (and transboundary) nature of the watershed, in years
past, had complicated the governance of the watershed. While agencies at the
federal, state, and/or territorial level had some regulatory responsibility for the
watershed, no single group existed to manage the watershed in its entirety.
Recognizing that need, the Council was established in 1997 as a treaty-based
organization of Indigenous governments dedicated to preserve and protect the
environmental quality of the Yukon River for the health of their communities
and the continuation of a traditional way of life for generations to come.
The YRITWC is both innovative and highly collaborative - the first of its kind
dedicated solely to promoting the responsible management, use, protection, and
enhancement of the massive watershed. The Council achieves these goals through
a variety of methods, including educational programs, water quality monitoring,