The Proposed Fish Habitat Management Regime for Yukon Placer Mining ADAPTIVE MANAGEMENT The Proposed Fish Habitat Management Regime for Yukon Placer Mining uses an adaptive management approach. Adaptive Management is a systematic scientific process for continually improving management polices and practices by learning from management experience. Adaptive Management recognizes that the effectiveness of any management regime is hampered by a degree of uncertainty and lack of knowledge. It seeks to improve the Regime by monitoring the effects of management actions, in order to learn from the results. In the case of the proposed Regime, Adaptive Management will require the monitoring of water quality, aquatic health and industry health. Monitoring results should provide new information and a rational basis for making adjustments to habitat conservation and protection measures over time. High quality monitoring data from both successes and failures is key to making improvements. Each monitoring program will follow approved protocols, in order to increase the reliability of the results. Careful annual monitoring will form the basis of recommendations for change. Before adjustments can be considered, several years of monitoring will likely be required. The Adaptive Management approach includes six steps: - Assess or define the problem. - Design the management actions and the monitoring program. - Implement the management actions. - Monitor the outcomes. - Evaluate the results. - Adjust management actions, if necessary, in response to new information.

The Proposed Fish Habitat Management Regime for Yukon Placer Mining The key questions to be answered for this Regime through Adaptive Management are: - Does the Regime conserve and protect fish and fish habitat supporting fisheries, resulting in no net loss of habitat? - Does the Regime maintain the viability of placer mining? Adaptive Management – How It Will Work - Review reports from three effects-monitoring programs - Apply decision rules - Publish annual report - Make recommendations respecting monitoring programs or regulatory instruments to relevant agency - Decisions related to monitoring programs will be made by the responsible agency - Decisions related to watershed authorizations will be made by the Department of Fisheries and Oceans - Decisions related to water use licenses and placer mining land use approvals will be made by the Yukon Water Board