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Flathead Saved from Mining, Oil & Gas!
The BC government has announced a ban on mining and oil and gas development in the Flathead River Valley. Sierra Club BC and partner organizations are lauding the announcement as a "great first step" towards permanent protection for the Flathead.
The BC government has announced a ban on mining and oil and gas development in the Flathead River Valley. Sierra Club BC and partner organizations are lauding the announcement as a vital first step towards permanent protection for the globally-significant Flathead.
"This is a great first step," said the Sierra Club's Sarah Cox. "We hope the government will continue to listen to British Columbians and take steps to permanently protect our world-class Flathead River Valley in the form of a National Park and Wildlife Management Area."
The Flathead, in B.C.'s southeast corner, adjoins the Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park in Montana and Alberta-- a World Heritage Site and UNESCO Biosphere Reserve.
Read the Calgary Herald story.
Read the Globe and Mail story and the in-depth coverage by the Environmental News Service.
The government made the unexpected announcement in the February 9 Speech from the Throne. It also announced a "new partnership with Montana" that will sustain environmental values in the Flathead Basin "in a manner consistent with current forestry, recreation, guide outfitting and trapping uses."
On February 18, B.C. Premier Gordon Campbell and Montana Governor Brian Schweitzer signed a Memorandum of Understanding that commits both governments to work together to "ensure the protection, conservation and enhancement of our shared environment for the benefit of current and future generations."
The agreement, inked during the Winter Olympic Games in B.C., was called "conservation gold" by Sierra Club and partners in the Flathead Wild campaign. It commits the province and state to work together on environmental protection, climate action and renewable and low-carbon energy -- along with local governments, federal governments, First Nations and leaders from the environmental, business and science communities.
"This agreement recognizes that nature has no national boundaries and that B.C. and Montana must work together to protect the fish, wildlife and water that we share," said Sierra Club BC.
The Flathead, in B.C.'s southeast corner, adjoins the Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park in Montana and Alberta-- a World Heritage Site and UNESCO Biosphere Reserve.
Sierra Club and partners Wildsight and CPAWS are calling for a National Park in the south eastern one-third of the Flathead and a Wildlife Management Area in the rest of the valley and adjoining habitat.
In January, a report from a World Heritage Committee mission recommended a mining moratorium in the Flathead. The mission came to B.C. following a petition to the United Nations body by Sierra Club BC and 10 other Canadian and American conservation groups. We asked the World Heritage Committee to declare Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park a World Heritage Site in Danger due to energy and mining threats in the adjacent Flathead.
The report also recommended the development of a comprehensive transboundary conservation and wildlife management plan for the Flathead, tucked into B.C.'s southeast corner next to Waterton Glacier International Peace Park.
Read the Vancouver Sun story.The Flathead is the last unsettled low elevation valley in southern Canada. National Geographic magazine calls this area “one of the most diverse and ecologically intact natural ecosystems in the temperate zones of the world.” Canadian Geographic magazine describes the Flathead River Valley as “a nursery, incubating wildlife that disperses and repopulates neighbouring habitats."
