The Government of Yukon manages a roster of Heritage Reserves throughout the Yukon territory, a set of administrative reserves created by the territorial government over four decades to provide for a range of heritage identification and conservation activities. Most sites were first identified because they included historic resources associated with colonial themes in Yukon’s history, including abandoned sternwheelers, roadhouses, Gold Rush industrial sites, and World War Two-era infrastructure projects. Over time, the Heritage Reserves have received varying levels of investment and management.

In 2022, the Government of Yukon engaged ERA to study 16 Heritage Reserve sites, and develop a prioritization framework for their management moving forward.

The project was delivered in three phases. The first phase consisted of information gathering, resulting in a Research Summary Report. The second phase involved a public engagement period, where feedback was collected on an online platform, on relevant local Facebook pages, and at in-person events in Whitehorse and Dawson City, to better understand the contemporary social value associated with each site. In the third phase, we developed a Heritage Reserve Management Priorities Report, which outlined a prioritization framework and applied it across the 16 Heritage Reserves.

The Management Priorities Report included a prioritization framework that assessed each site along two relative axes: (1) significance (or cultural heritage value); and (2) future potential, given their condition, location, and suitability for activation or adaptive reuse.

The framework was used to identify and recommend prioritized investment for the three sites that offered the highest relative significance and highest potential. A range of additional recommendations were offered for the sites with lesser combinations of potential and significance. The recommendations were organized around site strategies including: adaptive reuse for revenue generation; adaptive reuse for recreation; (adaptive) reuse for interpretation or public art; restoration / stabilization; and network-wide signage or storytelling.

The Heritage Reserves Management Priorities Report project included direct engagement with representatives from Yukon First Nations including the Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in First Nation and the Champagne and Aishihik First Nations.