Integrated Wildlife Management Plan: Ross River Traditional Territory

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	Introduction
	Background
	Planning Process
	Action Plan Part 1
	Action Plan Part 2
	Other Concerns
	Acronyms

Integrated Wildlife Management Plan - Ross River Traditional Territory
Background

As with all the Yukon First Nations, the beginnings of the Ross River Dena and their history spanning thousands of years cannot be documented in the modern historical sense. Many intermarriages with Tlingit and Tagish occurred in the past because of trading relationships. More recently, the ancestry of the Ross River Dena has included Northern Tutchone, Frances Lake Kaska and Dene from the Sahtu region of the Northwest Territories.

During the 1800's Ross River Kaska Dena people lived mainly along the upper Pelly River, around Frances Lake and along the upper Frances and Liard Rivers. In the spring they hunted beaver and later caught whitefish and trout at good fishing lakes. For those near the Pelly River, salmon fishing was also very important. In the fall, families gathered in the high mountains to put up large quantities of marmot and other meat for winter. Occasionally woodland caribou were also taken by herding them into corrals. Wood Bison were already becoming scarce even in the Liard drainage by the 1800's but were perhaps more abundant in earlier times since the name for Ross River (xas, hini) according to one interpretation is derived from the word for 'buffalo river'. Moose are not mentioned in traditional First Nation accounts of the Ross River area.

Recent historical developments in the Ross River area are summarized as follows:
1840 - 1900	First trading posts established in the 1840's. Fort Frances on Frances Lake was abandoned in 1851. The Pelly Banks trading post, established 1845, burned down in 1850. The Hudson's Bay Company returned to Pelly Banks and the confluence of Ross and Pelly Rivers around 1900. Both posts were later purchased by the Taylor and Drury Co.
1880	First gold prospectors arrived in Big Salmon, Pelly and Ross River districts in the 1880's.
1886	Conflict with people of the Liard drainage substantially reduced the populations of Pelly and Ross Rivers. Survivors joined the Frances Lake Kaska and some Tlingit people moved into the Pelly area after this date.
1920's - 30's	Other trading posts opened at MacMillan River, Sheldon Lake, Pelly Lakes. Strong competition among European fur traders during this period.
1940's	Stable fur trading economy until the 1940's.
1942 - 52	Canol pipeline, roads and camps were completed in 1944 and abandoned in 1945. Salvage began in the early 1950's and has continued since that time.
1950's	Decline of fur prices in 1950's, together with increase in government administration, resulted in many families moving to Ross River.
1951	Trapline system introduced by Territorial Government in 1951.
1952	Pelly Lakes trading post closed 1952. Many families moved from Pelly Lakes and Pelly Banks to Ross River.
1960 - 63	Ross River village relocated from north side of Pelly River to present location on south shore.
1950's - 1968	Robert Campbell Highway construction begun in late 1950's and completed in 1968.
1994	Total of 16,000 or more mineral claims staked in the Ross River area.