What are Wildlife Key Areas?
Wildlife Key Areas (WKAs) are areas used for critical, seasonal, life functions by wildlife species or species groups of interest.
WKAs are mapped with information from wildlife surveys and local knowledge and used for environmental assessment reviews and land use planning.
Evaluation of Wildlife Key Area inventory
The Government of Yukon completed an evaluation of the WKA program in 2024. This evaluation helps us to better understand the user’s needs and how the program could be improved.
The evaluation included recommendations for modernizing the WKA program, such as;
- updating and redesigning the WKA database and data delivery to ensure current and accurate information is available; and.
- advancing recommendations to re-evaluate older WKAs to ensure accuracy.
Read the Evaluation of Wildlife Key Are Inventory Final Report.
Read the Jurisdictional Review of Wildlife Area Management in Western Canada Report.
Wildlife Key Areas 2024 version release
A new, updated version of the WKA Inventory was released in 2024. In this version;
- 468 new WKAs were created;
- 40 WKAs were updated;
- 178 WKAs were replaced or retired; and
- satellite collar data was used to update WKAs for the Clear Creek caribou herd.
View the changes in the 2024 version:
The Wildlife Key Area 2024 version is available online through the GeoYukon platform.
View Wildlife Key Area 2024 layers in GeoYukon.
Wildlife Key Area GIS data packages
WKA GIS data packages can be downloaded from the GeoYukon webpage or from the link below. Wildlife Key Area polygons are compiled against the 1:250,000 National Topographic Database (NTDB) and are in the Department of Environment standard projection (Yukon Albers). You can use the WKA data with GIS software to make custom maps or other spatial products.
Download the WKA GIS Data Package.
Download the WKA Inventory User's Manual.
Upcoming
The Government of Yukon will make additional updates and improvements to the WKA dataset in the coming years, including a redesign of the WKA database. The main goal is to support timely updates across all platforms and allow for better public access to WKAs.
For questions about Wildlife Key Area GIS datasets, email [email protected].