Bring an end to free entry mineral claim staking in the Yukon, urges NDP Leader Todd Hardy.

Yesterday in the legislative assembly, Hardy made a motion urging the government to find an alternative to the current system that allows anybody 18 and older to enter private or public lands to stake a claim.

"(It's) based on the premise that mining is the first and best use of Crown land and trumps all other values and uses of it," said Hardy, who called free entry staking "out of touch with today's public attitudes and values."

Hardy's motion comes on the heels of the Peel River watershed's land use plan that the Yukon Chamber of Mines calls "crazy" and the territory's Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society (CPAWS) chapter says falls short on conservation.

Already, there are more than 10,000 mineral claims in the watershed.

Back in the legislature, Hardy tangled with Energy, Mines and Resources Minister Brad Cathers over the detriments and benefits of free entry claim staking.

"Does the minister really believe in a system where a miner is not even required to notify a land owner before driving a stake into the backyard?" Hardy asked.

To this, Cathers said the Yukon Environment and Socio-economic Assessment Board is able to handle such conflicts.

"Having a claim prevents someone else from putting a mineral claim in place; it does not, however, ensure that you'll ever be able to develop that," Cathers said

"There are public processes that must be gone through for that work to occur ... that provide a check and balance on the potential impact."

But the free entry system has led to all kinds of conflict with first nations and municipalities, and the government has a duty to find a better way, Hardy replied.

"I'm not saying to do away with mineral staking altogether, but I am saying I think it's time in our political, social and economic evolution to explore alternatives," said Hardy.

"(To) better protect the rights of the public and give a say in where mining exploration and related activities can take place."

In 2005, angry Whitehorse residents told city council they did not want to see mining in their backyards.

More than 100 claims have been made in and around the Copper Ridge and Spruce Hill areas.

Additional claims also exist between Spruce Hill and Golden Horn, immediately to the west of the Cowley Creek and Mary Lake subdivisions, and in the Mount Sima area.

"All we have to do is look up on the Mount McIntyre ski trails and the staking that's happening up there," Hardy said after scoffing at the paltry claim registration fee.

"I don't consider $10 a claim a big bonus to the people of the Yukon."

But Cathers responded that exploration work provides the real economic return to the territory.

"I was not indicating the fee received for licensing a claim as being the major source of benefit ... it is the millions of dollars of work ... that is employing Yukoners territory-wide," said Cathers. "The mining industry, when done responsibly, is a very important industry to the Yukon."

In 2007, a record $140 million was spent on mineral exploration, and last year that figure was $123 million.

But it is the free entry system, developed back in the Gold Rush days, that both Hardy and CPAWS say is out of date.

"The underlying philosophy of this frontier mentality was that mining was the best use of Crown land," reads a CPAWS article about ending the free entry system in the Yukon.

"Public attitudes and mining technologies have changed, yet the archaic law remains."