Businesses, conservation groups and political parties are pushing Yukoners to submit thier comments before next Monday's consultation deadline on Yukon's Peel River Watershed plan.

A draft plan, released in December 2009, ignited public debate when it called for 80 per cent of the watershed to be withdrawn from any industrial development, including mineral staking. Some have called for the entire 67,000-square kilometre area to be declared off-limits to development, while those who want to explore for minerals in the area said 80 per cent is too much.

Yukon Chamber of Commerce president Peter Turner says the only side of the Peel fence he'll come down on is to urge everyone to get their comments in by the Feb. 25 deadline. "We feel because we represent all variety of businesses across the Yukon that it is important for our members to express their opinions," he said.

Yukon Conservation Society Director Karen Baltgailis is also urging Yukoners to sound off and to do it soon. "Everybody is getting out to their membership including the Chamber of Mines and various politicial parties and that is all perfectly valid. We really do want as wide a response as possible."

The Yukon government says this latest round of consultation on the land use plan is the longest in Yukon history.