Many Yukon communities will soon have a new tool for planning the future of the lands around them. Called bioregional or community-based mapping, this approach can communicate local values and knowledge. The maps created in this process can also help communities see the landscape in a different way.

The project, sponsored by the Association of Yukon Communities, is meant to give local residents the skills to build stronger communities. This approach can help communities keep their own values front and center during planning exercises, says project organizer Angela Walkley.

The process starts with a base map of a community, or the land around a community. The map can be as simple as the outline of a watershed, or as sophisticated as a computer-generated map. The focus is on natural boundaries, rather than political ones.

In a mapping session, people from the community use symbols representing different natural or cultural features to mark important areas. The symbols might represent anything from hunting areas to berry patches.

People are also encouraged to share their stories about different areas or features. These stories are written down, and added to the map as blocks of text. The finished maps then tell a story about the community.

"Whenever people look at maps they are reminded of stories about certain places or they have ideas for management," says Walkley. "So you want to capture the conversation that occurs over maps. For example, people might have stories about a particular stand of trees and what it means to the community.

"The idea is to create an atlas of maps representing different aspects of the environment. They could show natural features such as soils, landscapes, vegetation and wildlife, as well as ways that people in the community use the land. Maps could also show the history and culture of an area.

Walkley says that the process of creating the maps can be just as important as any end product. The mapping workshops give new skills to a community that can be used in the future. Mount Lorne is one example of a community that wants to build on its new expertise.

After a mapping workshop held there last year, people in Mount Lorne decided to develop maps on wildlife areas around the hamlet. More development is planned for their area, and wildlife maps could help the community identify important areas that should be protected. They are now organizing an open house so that everyone in the community can contribute to these maps.

At an upcoming workshop in Carmacks, Walkley already knows about one issue that might be addressed. "Elders are increasingly concerned about hunting in areas that might be contaminated. They might see moose in an area that once had a mine and not know whether it is safe to eat the meat of animals shot in that area, says Walkley.

"But there are studies to show that certain areas are actually clean. So we can take a look at what areas are and are not contaminated, and can then compare this with where people are hunting regularly."

Several First Nations in British Columbia are also using this approach of combining local knowledge of the land with scientific studies. For example, the Gitxsan are developing community maps to use in their land claim. They are looking at land uses such as logging over which they want more community control.

Walkley saw the potential for community-based mapping while working as a student intern in southern India. She was working on a community development project in a particularly poor area of rural India.

"We would do a community visit and three-quarters of the village would go with us on a walk through their watershed. It might take all day, and people would talk about everything from erosion to wildlife management to agricultural issues," she says.

The next step was to get people together on their threshing pad -- a large flat area -- and draw a huge map of the watershed on the ground. People would use chalk to draw symbols for natural features on the map. The development workers would take this information and put it on a paper map, along with the villagers' proposals for improving watershed conditions.

"It was especially effective there working with people who are illiterate and don't have much experience with the planning process," says Walkley.

A Scotsman is credited with the first efforts at bioregional mapping. In the late 1800s, Patrick Geddes started mapping his community to show how it had grown up around the natural features there.

In a castle tower, he created a museum showing how his small Scottish community was part of a much larger system. On the ground floor were exhibits on the local community. Upper floors showed first Scotland, then Europe and the planet Earth. The universe was represented on the top floor.

Walkley will lead mapping workshops in seven or eight Yukon communities over the next two months. For more information on the project, she can be contacted at 668-7427.