Yukon trappers are being encouraged to attend next week's conference of experts in the field of furbearing animals and their habitats, says the territory's fur harvest manager.

Helen Slama of Environment Yukon said the conference will begin Tuesday with a day-long workshop on trapping, including sessions on the biology of wolves, handling and grading of furs and new trapping technologies.

While the remainder of the week is geared more toward scientific studies, trappers are welcome to sit in and hear from researchers in different fields of expertise, she said in an interview this week.

Slama said there will be, for instance, a presentation regarding the relationship between the fluctuations in the lynx and snowshoe hare populations, and how it may be affected by timber harvesting.

In terms of numbers, the fur industry in the Yukon is a fraction of what it was 20 and 30 years ago.

The number of licensed trappers is down more than 40 per cent or more from the early 1980s, according to statistics. Fur production and its dollar value has fallen even further.

Records going back to 1980 show the '80s as a time of prosperity for an industry under attack by the anti-fur lobby at home and abroad.

In the winter of 1981-82, trappers sold 36,022 pelts of all types for a $1.6 million.

Fur sales in the 1980s topped out above $1 million in eight of the 10 years, and never went below $800,000.

Through the winter of '84-'85, the lynx pelts sold for an average $710 – each.

The 1,008 lynx trapped that season accounted for half of the total fur value $1.4 million.

While the big cats cornered the allure back in the days of heated fur prices, the bread-and-butter species weren't forgotten.

One winter there were 28,348 squirrels harvested, for an average pelt price of 90 cents, generating revenue $25,513 that season.

"They used to call it gas money,” said Slama, describing the annual interest in squirrels.

While 28,348 was a modern-day record, it was not unusual through the '80s to have 5,000 to 10,000 squirrels trapped every season.

There were 150 harvested last year, for an average pelt price of $1.40.

Lynx were sold for an average of $113 last winter, and the total revenue from all fur sales was $200,000, half of what it was three years earlier.

Slama said while this winter's tally isn't complete, she suspects it's down a little from last winter.

The fur harvest manager accepts that times are changing in the trapping industry, though she doubts it's only matter of economics.

Slama said while fur prices aren't what they were in the 1980s, those years represented an unusual upward spike in the market that hasn't been seen since.

There's the whole shift in demographics as the average age of Yukoners creeps higher, with seemingly less interest by the younger generation to work the family trapline, she suggested.

Slama said there's also the changing socioeconomic landscape.

There was a time, she said, when trapping was the economy during the winter, particularly in rural communities.

Slama said today, with the re-emergence of mining in the territory, new job opportunities with local governments and such, there are more alternatives to making a living than hopping on the snowmachine at -40.

But with 450 licensed Yukon trappers last year, the fur industry in the Yukon is far from dead, she suggested.

And Slama still encourages trappers to harvest squirrels.

They're not worth a lot of money individually, but nor they do take a lot of time to skin and stretch, and they can help cover expenses, she insisted, suggesting she could probably prepare a squirrel pelt in under five minutes.

One trapper she know traps squirrels as a means of reducing annoying attacks on his marten sets.

She said it's as much about managing his trapline as it is about generating revenue.

The approach to managing traplines and concessions is expanding generally, as more consideration is given to wider issues, Slama said.

Next week's conference and workshop, she pointed out, will offer insight into a variety of topics, such as the impact of logging in marten habitat.

"And there are some new traps and some new snares we want to make sure people are familiar with.”

Slama noted biologist Craig Gardner will be presenting his work on refining wolf snares to reduce the number of grazing moose caught by accident.

There will also be a presentation on how snowmachine trails and traffic influence the hunting patterns and movements of wolves.

Some things never change, however.

Lynx, marten, wolves and wolverines are still the primary species in the Yukon's fur industry.

Of the $200,000 in sales last year, 450 lynx pelts generated $50,850, or 25 per cent of total revenues; 993 marten contributed $68,517, or 34 per cent; 221 wolf pelts brought in $43,095, accounting for 22 per cent; and 137 wolverines generated $31,373, or 16 per cent of total sales.

Together, the four furbearers accounted for 97 per cent of revenue.