Site saving unfair at Yukon Parks campgrounds

Mon, Nov 18, 2024

The Yukon Ombudsman’s office has completed a formal investigation regarding the practice of site saving at Yukon Parks campgrounds. The investigative report concluded that the Department of Environment’s lack of enforcement due to insufficient tracking of site saving is unfair and made six recommendations.

The Ombudsman’s office received a complaint regarding the saving of a campsite at a busy Yukon campground. Site saving is a practice that disregards the “first come, first served” registration system and/or the 24-hour occupancy rule by giving the impression that a campsite is registered and occupied, therefore denying other visitors from using the site. This complaint was escalated to a formal investigation due to broad public interest.

“The Department’s inability to comprehensively track site saving is problematic in the context of accountability, transparency, and consistency, thus creating a climate of unfairness,” said Tara Martin, Deputy Ombudsman. “Our job is to investigate complaints of unfairness and provide recommendations that ensure the authority better serves the public, as we have done in this report.”

The Department accepted all six of the recommendations to be implemented during the 2025 camping season. These recommendations focus on complaint tracking improvements to guide operations and auditing how the online reservation system and visitor operator pilot programs might affect Site Saving. These recommendations are especially important in the context of increased campground use, and a growing population.

The Department has identified site saving mitigation as a fundamental priority and is working on several initiatives including a central electronic database, new public awareness campaigns about the 24-hour rule, new regulations to address Site Saving in a more direct manner, and two pilot projects introduced in the 2024 camping season.

Contacts:

Tanis Davey
Communications and Outreach Analyst
Yukon Ombudsman, Information and Privacy Commissioner & Public Interest Disclosure Commissioner
tanis.davey@yukonombudsman.ca
867-332-4555

Tara Martin
Deputy Ombudsman
Yukon Ombudsman, Information and Privacy Commissioner & Public Interest Disclosure Commissioner
tara.martin@yukonombudsman.ca
867-667-8480