The re-acclaimed president of the Yukon Chamber of Mines says things are going well in the Yukon.

Carl Schulze also cautioned his colleagues Tuesday about the need for the industry to remain on its toes, as environmental organizations will continue full-blown lobby efforts to realize their goals of maximum wilderness protection for the entire territory.

The controversial land use planning exercise for the Peel River watershed was a springboard for those organizations to stage their push for protection, he told delegates attending the chamber's annual general meeting.

Those very organizations, Schulze warned, will not only bring the same lobby effort to the land use planning exercise getting underway for the Dawson region, but for the remaining five regional exercises.

Next week's release of the final land use recommendation by the Peel Watershed Planning Commission is of the utmost importance to the mining and exploration industry, the chamber president suggested.

Schulze said environmental lobby groups would have Yukoners believe the draft plan released last spring for public review called for maximum protection of just 11 per cent of the 68,042 square kilometres making up the planning area.

In fact, he said, when one looks at the draft plan and its restrictions on seasonal and year-round access, the actual amount inaccessible to industry would be 59 per cent.

Schulze said if the commission comes back with a final recommendation that affectively removes 59 per cent of the planning area, the environmental organizations will embrace it as a victory and a precedent to carry into the Dawson exercise.

"We just can't have 50 per cent of the Yukon alienated,” the returning chamber president told chamber members who were also attending this year's 34th Annual Yukon Geoscience Forum.

Schulze said the Yukon right now has a very good reputation as a jurisdiction for exploration and mining companies to invest their money.

"What I have heard is the Yukon may be the best,” he said. "Not just for the mining potential, but also for the present regulatory regime.”

Schulze recalled words from a senior mining executive who delivered the keynote address at Monday evening's banquet, and how he described the territory's regime as one that regulates but does not prohibit.

The regime created by the implementation of the Yukon Environmental and Socioeconomic Assessment Board is extremely successful in expediting mid-level projects, Schulze said.

He said there are a lot of issues to be addressed in YESAB's current five-year review when it comes to the higher level and larger projects, but for the most part the screening process is working and the industry is noticing.

"We need to keep it that way,” he said, while encouraging members to make submissions on the five-year review to express their desire to maintain what he described as an expedient process for mid-level projects.

Though industry right now is finding the territory attractive, that appeal could evaporate quickly if the Peel planning process comes back with a huge area of land alienated for industry, he said.

Schulze said mining and exploration need to continue their push for the continuation of responsible mining.

He recalled comments to the geoscience forum Monday morning by Ed Schultz, executive director of the Council of Yukon First Nations.

Schultz spoke clearly and emphatically about the desire of first nations to partner with the industry to advance economic development opportunities, the chamber president reminded the membership.

Environmental organizations would have the general public believe first nations are only interested in maximum protection of the land base to maintain cultural and traditional practices, the president told the membership.

Scott Kent, who is stepping aside as the chamber's executive director, said the land use planning concerns over the Peel have been the priority for the organization.

And it is likely to remain the focus as the planning exercise for the Dawson region begins, particularly with the existing placer mining interests in the region and the new modern day gold rush in the White Gold District south of Dawson.

"So we will have to be very, very vigilant to make sure our concerns are met,” Kent said in his address.

Depending on what the planning commission recommends, Kent said, the chamber may have to shift its lobby efforts directly to the doorstep of the Yukon government and first nations.

The Peel planning debate has ignited deep and heartfelt emotions from both sides of the tracks.

The Yukon Conservation Society, the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society and the Yukon's Tourism Industry Association have spearheaded a campaign for maximum protection of what they argue is some of the last pristine wilderness on Earth.

Three of the four first nations whose traditional territories make up the watershed have also called for maximum protection.

Industry, however, maintains it has the ability to work responsibly with minimal impact in a large area of the Yukon that is rich in mineral and oil and gas resources.

Ultimately, it will be largely up to the Yukon government to accept, reject or alter the commission's recommendation, as 97 per cent of the planning area is territorial Crown land.