Martin Knutson
In 2004, Marty Knutson and John Alton of Henry Gulch Placers had been mining together in the Klondike for twenty-two years. They consistently maintained high standards of reclamation. In June 2000, they moved to Last Chance Creek. The mine was in serious disrepair with large areas unable to support vegetation and a hillside slumped into the creek. The damage was contributing to the sedimentation of Hunker Creek. They treated large sections of the property, reclaimed and stabilized some old mine pits, built a pond for catching ongoing degradation, and ultimately stabilized the creek. In 2004, they won the Robert E. Leckie Award for Outstanding Placer Mining Reclamation Practices.1)
Martin Knutson and Strategic Metals Ltd. both received the 2010 Robert E. Leckie Award at the 38th Annual Geoscience Forum banquet. Knutson was working in the area between the Klondike Highway and the Klondike River adjacent to the Bear Creek subdivision. In addition to his standard reclamation efforts, Knutson cleaned the site of all litter debris, constructed a swimming hole for the locals and created a raised hiking trail which also acted as a berm to keep the Klondike River from flooding the area in the spring.2)
Marty Knutson and his son Karl were featured in the TV series Yukon Gold, a Canadian reality series produced by Paperny Entertainment starting in 2003. The series was acquired by the National Geographic Channel. The Knutsons left the show in season five.3)