Wetlands have been used for decades in the treatment of municipal wastewater (sewage) in many parts of the world. Since the 1980s, wetlands have been used in the treatment of acid mine drainage, usually resulting from coal mining. Recently, natural and constructed wetlands have been researched and utilized for the removal of metals from mine drainage. Most of these wetland treatment systems have been designed and used in temperate climatic areas where permafrost, extreme minimum temperatures, and limited plant productivity is not a great concern. There is interest in northern regions on the possibility of the application of wetlands as a passive treatment system for metal contaminated mine drainage. A research program investigating this possibility was initiated in the summer of 1995 in the vicinity of the United Keno Hill Mine property in central Yukon. A pilot wetland treatment system was constructed in May 1995 near the Galkeno 900 adit to determine whether it could improve the quality of its discharge. Sedges (Carex aquatilis) were obtained from a local natural wetland unaffected by any mine drainage and planted in the plot. After the plants were allowed to establish, untreated mine drainage was introduced to the wetland. Monitoring of the wetland continued for one season. Initial results showed that treatment within the wetland reduced concentrations of zinc, cadmium, manganese and nickel. Sulphate reduction in the sediments and formation of insoluble metal sulphides appeared to be the primary process responsible for their removal. In 1999, further investigations were completed on this pilot project and on some of the natural wetlands which receive untreated mine drainage. Due to insufficient volumes of water flowing through the examined wetlands, they could not be fully evaluated as to their performance in the treatment of waste water. However, sediment analyses showed that metals had been attenuated. The colonization of the transplanted sedges (Carex aquatilis) in the constructed wetland was evaluated. Successful growth and propagation was apparent. These local sedges appear to be a hardy species capable of withstanding transplanting, and appear to thrive with a minimum of effort. Metal uptake in plant tissues was also examined. Low levels were documented throughout the study area with the exception of high zinc concentration in sedges that were collected from the No Cash wetland. As Carex aquatilis, the dominant sedge found in the local wetlands, is generally unpalatable to herbivores, the low and incidental levels of metals found within the tissue of the sedges, poses little environmental concern. Overall, the preliminary results indicate that there is good potential for the use of wetlands to treat metal contaminated mine drainage.

This report reviews methods and criteria for placer mining settling pond design. The mining and processing of placer gold generates wastewaters containing high concentrations of fine sand, silt and clay. Reduction of sediment discharges is required primarily to minimize impacts of sediment and turbidity on the aquatic environment and fish. Sediment discharge control to avoid sedimentation of water supply intakes of downstream mining operations and to allow recycling of process water in water short areas are secondary factors.

In May 2003, the proposal for this project was submitted to the Mining Environment Research Group (MERG). At that time Nevada Pacific Gold Ltd. (NPG) was in charge of water treatment operations at the Elsa Property, the location for this project. Subsequent to approval of the MERG project, on June 11, 2003, NPG terminated its option to purchase the property, thereby dissolving its previously accepted responsibility to act as the agent of the Yukon Territorial Government (YTG) to maintain the water treatment systems and monitor effluent water quality at various locations of the property. As of June 11, 2003 YTG assumed direct responsibility for care and control of the site. YTG entered into a contribution agreement with the Nacho Nyak Dun Development Corporation (NND DC) to provide care and maintenance services. Access was retained by the NND DC to provide technical management of the project. ACG proceeded with MERG project activities, conducting desktop research and collecting baseline soil and water quality samples in July. On September 2, 2003 YTG was formally made aware that as a result of the July field inspection under MERG, ACG was of the opinion that the flow from the Galkeno Adit was likely reporting directly to fish bearing waters. Various Yukon and Federal Government Departments and agencies including the Department of Fisheries and Oceans, the Department of Environment, Water Resources, and Energy Mines and Resources met on September 5, 2003 to discuss the situation. As a result of the meeting, YTG decided to redirect the Galkeno 300 flow via pipeline into the forested dispersion area that it previously occupied.

An Integrated Regulatory Regime for Yukon Placer Mining was the final report of the Yukon Placer Implementation Steering Committee, submitted to the Minister of Fisheries in 2005. Under a proposed new management regime, the Yukon's placer mining industry will be managed through an adaptive management framework, with the aim of striking a balance between maintaining a viable placer industry and the protection and conservation of aquatic ecosystem integrity and fish populations. The effectiveness of the regime at achieving this balance will be monitored and assessed with appropriate adjustments to the requirements as required. The report recommended that a number of protocols be prepared and implemented in order to monitor the effectiveness of the new management system and among these is one with the primary objective of assessing and monitoring watershed health. A draft Watershed Health Monitoring protocol was completed July 1, 2006, and is currently being reviewed and considered by first nation, territorial and federal government agencies, industry and conservation organizations, and the general public. The draft protocol aims to provide for a process to help assess how effective the new management regime is for maintaining watershed health and to generate monitoring results that will be used to guide the adaptive management framework assessment and adjustment phases. After consideration of a number of methods, the Reference Condition Approach (RCA) was selected for assessing and monitoring watershed health under the draft protocol. There were a number of reasons for this choice: - It is the most robust of many biomonitoring methods - It is the basis of regional programs in Canada (it is an accepted design under the federal Environmental Effects Monitoring program), and programs in other countries, several USEPA programs in the United States, national programs in Australia and the United Kingdom, and has been adopted under the European Water Directive. - An RCA program has been underway in the Yukon for a number of years that could be immediately applied to the placer mining areas and augmented by future fieldwork. When the draft protocol was in preparation in the spring of 2006, meetings were held among those already conducting some type of stream sampling program associated with the Yukon placer mining industry. This included The University of Western Ontario, the federal Department of Fisheries & Oceans, and Environment Yukon Fisheries section. These three groups agreed to collaborate and carry out RCA sampling in 2006 in a manner consistent with that provided for in the draft Watershed Health Monitoring Protocol in order to "test drive" the methodology and assess its effectiveness at achieving the new management regime's objectives. Follow-up Geographical Information System March, 2007 3 (GIS) data collection and data analysis were also carried out as provided for in the draft protocol. In addition, reference sites were subjected to simulated impacts and then the RCA models were applied to these impacted sites in order to demonstrate the ability of the RCA models to detect a known degree of disturbance in streams.

This report is the second volume of a study on placer mining settling pond design. The first volume, 'Design Principles', reviewed methods and criteria for settling pond design and identified field research needs. This volume outlines the methodology of a demonstration project that generated settling pond design data.

The Fish Habitat Management System for Yukon Placer Mining replaced the Yukon Place Authorization (YPA) in 15 Yukon watersheds on April 11, 2008. Founded on principles of adaptive management and incorporating a risk-based approach to decision-making, the system is intended to balance the objectives of a sustainable Yukon placer mining industry with the conservation and protection of fish and fish habitat supporting fisheries Adaptive management recognizes that the effectiveness of any management system is hampered by a degree of uncertainty and lack of knowledge. It seeks to improve the system by monitoring the effects of management actions, in order to learn from the results. The Adaptive Management Framework for Yukon placer mining is complemented by traditional knowledge and water quality objectives monitoring, aquatic health monitoring and economic health monitoring programs. The results should provide new information and a rational basis for making any adjustments required to achieve the two management objectives. The water quality objectives monitoring program is governed by the Water Quality Objectives Monitoring Protocol. The Protocol describes the locations, timing, frequency and methods employed during sampling, as well as the methods used to analyze sampling data. Precipitation data was collected from a variety of sources to assist in the interpretation of results. The water quality objectives monitoring program relies upon both continuous sampling and grab sampling. Continuous sampling is performed by automated instruments that pump water from the creek or river at a preset volume and at precise times each day. Grab samples are taken by personnel at a selected location, depth and time. Normally the quantity of water taken is sufficient for all the physical and chemical analyses that will be done on the sample. Grab sampling is also performed during sampling "blitzes", when single grab samples are collected from as many sites as possible within a short timeframe in order to get a snapshot of the water quality in a watershed over a 24 hour period. Distributed from [GeoYukon](https://yukon.ca/geoyukon) by the [Government of Yukon](https://yukon.ca/maps) . Discover more digital map data and interactive maps from Yukon's digital map data collection. For more information: [geomatics.help@yukon.ca](mailto:geomatics.help@yukon.ca)

There is significant Government investment in water quality improvement focused on reducing gully erosion (~$50M), however, there is limited measured data to demonstrate the effectiveness of the remediation approaches. This project is collected land condition, terrain and water quality data from five gully remediation trial sites in the Burdekin catchment. The data demonstrated whether the on-ground investment programs are actually improving measured water quality, and quantified the cost-effectiveness of the various approaches. The measured field data was extrapolated using Lidar, supporting the prioritisation and evaluation of future remediation sites over larger (whole of property) scales. Communication products were developed to provide the evidence needed to increase landholder engagement in remediation programs that are focused on improving water quality runoff to the GBR. This project is a continuation of NESP TWQ Round 2 - Project 2.1.4.