With several thousand visitors driving past each summer, it's certainly one of the more photographed viewscapes in the Yukon. Tombstone's setting is riveting, but its story is equally dramatic. This is a park that almost wasn't, and it still faces challenges.

In the mid-1990s, numerous mining claims were staked just before a tardy moratorium on staking in the area by the government. All but one small local exploration company agreed to relinquish their claims inside the park boundaries. Since then, a contentious battle has raged over Tombstone's future. Though officially made a park in 2000, its status remains a flashpoint of controversy between the stubborn junior mining company and those who worked so hard to establish the park.

Exploration permits continue to be issued, and the company wants to build a road to their claims in the park. The issue is dividing the local community, pitting miners against recreational tourists and aboriginal interests. This Yukon drama is part of the Tombstone story told by park interpreters at the Dempster Highway Interpretive Centre, where keen naturalists have busied themselves each summer creating displays and conjuring up ways to share the area's natural history with highway travellers and hikers.