SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - As of last December, applications to lease land in the Prosperous Lake area for cabins have been denied by the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs (MACA), and won't be considered until December 2011.

The 7,400 hectare piece of land highlighted above, containing parts of Walsh, Banting, and Prosperous Lakes, will be off limits for those seeking to construct a cabin or summer home until December 2011, while the GNWT conducts a study in the area on how to manage cabin leases. - Graphic courtesy of the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs

The ban is in effect while MACA conducts a study in the 7,400 hectare area to develop a new territorial policy on leasing land for summer homes and cabins.

"It's to define and regulate recreational leasing," said Beverly Chamberlin, director of lands administration for MACA.

Chamberlin said the GNWT does not currently have an official definition for recreational leasing.

"Instinctively it means someone's going to get a plot of land and put a small cabin on it and they're going to go out there maybe during their summer holidays or on a weekend," she said.

"The other piece of the work is to implement some development controls so that we're ensuring that we're protecting the natural environment."

Chamberlin gave a presentation to city council on April 5 on the study, and said it will look at how many cabins different lakes can "support" and to eventually set limits for the amount of cabins on various lakes.

"We hope to protect the natural environment," said Chamberlin to council.

She said the area will still be accessible for recreation purposes.

"We don’t want to prevent people from jumping on their boat on the weekend and having a picnic on the shore, or pitching a tent for the night," Chamberlin said.

Also present was Mike Aumond, deputy minister of MACA.

"We want to try to set out a basic framework, setting out parameters for occupancy and use of land for recreational purposes so we don’t have too many people trying to access one lake," said Aumond.

He said there are a lot of "squatters" living in the Yellowknife area, and in fact through much of the North, and that will be another aspect of the study.

People living illegally in the study area have already been asked to leave, according to Chamberlin. There are about five or six "trespassers" currently on MACA's radar.

She said the court is the next step for those who have not heeded MACA's request to vacate the lakes.

There are about 60 legally held recreational leases on that land, according to Chamberlin, and those will not be affected by the study.

"After (December, 2011) and we've completed our work and we think we have areas where we can make land available for recreational purposes, we will do that," said Chamberlin.