The territorial election hasn't been called yet, but at least one group already knows what its number one issue is going to be when the writ is dropped sometime between now and Oct. 14.

"We have members from all four parties, so we're not even remotely interested in helping one political party over another,” Ken Taylor of Trails Only Yukon Association (TOYA) said this week.

"But we're going to be identifying what the parties think on this, and we're going to be identifying what individual candidates believe on this, and we're going to be publishing it.”

The issue he is talking about is environmental protection restrictions on off-road vehicles.

The 200-plus member group advocates for designated trails for ATVs, clear legislation on ATV use, enforcement of existing and future laws and regulations, and education.

"We have somewhere between 14 and 40,000 kilometres of bulldozed trails here in the Yukon. We don't need more,” said TOYA cofounder Vern Peters, quoting an estimate from Yukon Off-road Riders Association, which was formed in response to TOYA.

Both groups were formed less than a year ago to respond to a special legislative committee on off-road vehicle use.

Although the original focus of the committee's investigations was safety and licensing issues, it soon became clear that Yukoners wanted to talk about the environmental impact of ATVs and snowmobiles.

Now that the committee's report has been completed, Peters and Taylor want to see a moratorium on new trails until Yukon lawmakers can come up with a comprehensive set of laws and policies on ATV use, a process they plan to push during this year's territorial election.

"You've got a vast majority of Yukoners who want this done,” Taylor said, pointing to various surveys done of the subject.

According to four surveys found on TOYA's website, the most recent being a 2010 door-to-door survey of Whitehorse residents, between 70 and 90 per cent of those questioned supported some restrictions on where ATVs can go.

Although the special committee's survey did not specifically ask participants about environmental protection, people flooded the comments section with their conservation concerns.

"There was a large bloc calling for legislation to protect Yukon's fragile environment,” the final report states.

"The committee heard about ongoing environmental devastation and wildlife being forced from its breeding grounds and natural habitats.”

"It's the right thing to do, and right in their report, they say, ‘Hey, we have to make recommendations that talk about future generations, we need to make recommendations that talk about wise stewardship,'” Taylor said.

"It takes a bit of courage to make recommendations; it'll take a little more courage to put them into action.”

With an election looming, Taylor – a former leader of the Yukon Liberal Party – said it is "absolutely unfathomable to me why the NDP haven't gotten behind this.

"... Doesn't it seem like a made-in-heaven issue for the New Democrats? There's been nothing.”

That is not entirely correct.

When Environment Minster John Edzerza was an NDP member, he called for restrictions on ATVs, partly based on environmental concerns. Since crossing the floor to the Yukon Party, the NDP has criticized him harshly for not continuing to champion the issue.

"We figure over 80 per cent of Yukoners are wanting something to be done,” Peters said. "Eighty per cent!

Isn't that a pretty good issue to put on the political platform? It should be a no-brainer.”

If it is a "made-in-heaven” issue for anyone, it's the newly founded territorial Green Party.

"We are actually developing our platform right now, and I have a call into Trails Only Yukon because obviously they are the experts on this right now,” Kristina Calhoun, interim co-leader of the young party, said today.

Calhoun said she is hoping TOYA will participate in an upcoming policy convention, adding the Green policy could draw heavily from TOYA's input.

"I understand why the Yukon Party's not on it, because it's the party of business and conservatives have a hard time changing their minds and accepting change,” said Taylor, a self-described "small-c conservative”.

"... And for the Liberals, this is an opportunity to provide a balanced platform proposal.”

Liberal MLA Don Inverarity said today he will be raising the issue this weekend, when his party meets to discuss its 2011 platform.

"I think the recommendations are pretty straightforward,” he said of the report he helped write as a member of the special committee.

"I think the environment needs to be protected, and we also have to respect the rights of people who use the wilderness.

"It's a complex issue, and it's not going to take a simple solution.”

"The first one with sensible recommendations is going to have a leg up on the rest,” Taylor said.

"Because I can tell you for sure, we're going to do our best to make this an issue that can't be ignored during the election.”