Negotiations are underway to set land use rules for B.C.’s last pristine coastal watershed, the remote Taku River valley near the Alaska and Yukon borders.

In talks similar to those that established the so-called Great Bear Rainforest agreement on B.C.'s central and northern coast three years ago, the Taku River Tlingit First Nation is moving beyond court challenges over mining to a plan that would share the resources and tourism potential of their vast traditional territory.

Logging and forest preservation were keys to the north and central coast agreement, but in the Taku region, the main attraction for more than a century has been gold. Placer mining was restricted in 1993 when the Tatshenshini-Alsek Provincial Park was established, and the remaining placer gold production area is next to the main community of Atlin.

The new park also stopped development of a world-class copper deposit called Windy Craggy.

With no commercial forestry in 40,000 square kilometres of rugged mountains and rivers, the Taku River watershed has been taken up as a cause by who's who of North American environmental groups including ForestEthics, Wildsight and the Sierra Club of B.C.

A road linking Atlin to the Alaska Highway was completed in 1950, and it remains the only road ever built in the region. Whitehorse is the closest town, a two-hour drive away.

John Ward, a spokesman for the Taku River Tlingit (TRT), says the area is one of very few that can be called "pristine." He has been approached by one environmental group interested in making a detailed profile of the valley to use as a baseline of what is lost in areas disturbed by industrial use.

"There aren't many places in the world left that have these kinds of ecosystems," Ward said.

The Taku River Tlingit aren't opposed to industrial development, and have an agreement with a placer mining company for a site at Atlin, he said. But after the TRT presented their map of protected areas in September, Ward said the province wanted more areas available for industry.

"We're not interested in that," Ward said.

Forests Minister Pat Bell, responsible for the land management bureau, said two years of talks with the TRT are a hopeful sign. Having worked on similar agreements on Haida Gwaii, the Sea to Sky region and in the Interior, Bell agrees with Ward that a deal for the Taku can be done within a year and a half.

"The Taku River Tlingit and the province of British Columbia have had some history of litigation," Bell said in an interview. "The fact that we are talking, and it appears we are coming up with a constructive framework for joint decision-making to allow us to move forward in the region, is very positive."

According to a history compiled for the B.C. government, the Atlin area has produced more than $23 million worth of gold over the past century, second only to the Cariboo region for placer gold production in B.C.

The Taku River Tlingit lived in semi-permanent camps on Atlin Lake and had little contact with outsiders until placer gold was discovered at Pine Creek in 1898. Thousands of miners descended, some choosing the Taku region rather than follow the Klondike gold trail.

Atlin boasted a population of 10,000 within a year, but that dropped off with gold production in the early 20th century Atlin's permanent population remains at around 500 today, swelling to 600 in the summer and fall with eco-tourism and guided big-game hunting.

The region also includes the Chilkoot Trail National Historic Site, the largest heritage site in Canada.

About a third of Atlin's permanent residents are TRT members. Ward said they are not involved in the guide-outfitter business, but they share that resource as they do mineral development. About 15 guide-outfitter businesses operate in the region, hosting hunters from around the world.

The TRT are one of five First Nations groups with interests in the area, along with the Tlinglit Teslin Council, Carcross/Tagish First Nation, Tahltan First Nation and Champagne-Aishihik First Nations. Traditional territories extend from B.C. into Yukon and in some cases into Alaska.

Aboriginal Relations Minister George Abbott has been involved with land use plans since the ministry was called Sustainable Resource Management. He says they are essential to the modern idea of shared decision-making between the Crown and groups with aboriginal title.

"Before you can really get into a proper shared decision-making model, you need to have a land use plan that becomes the base document for shared decision-making," Abbott said.