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Strong Support for Flathead Park
A new poll shows strong support for a Flathead National Park in the BC’s East Kootenay region. The poll also found that 77 percent of local residents support wildlife sanctuaries.
East Kootenay residents support a National Park in the south eastern one-third of the Flathead River Valley at a rate of 2 to 1, according to a poll released November 3.
The poll, conducted in late October by McAllister Opinion Research, also found that 77 percent of East Kootenay residents support the establishment of wildlife sanctuaries in south eastern BC that would be off-limits to hunting and other industry.
The Flathead River Valley, in BC’s southeast corner, has come under intense international scrutiny because of plans for coal strip mining and other development in this critical wildlife corridor, which adjoins Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park—a World Heritage Site and UNESCO Biosphere Reserve. In late September, the World Heritage Committee sent a mission to Waterton-Glacier and the Flathead to determine if the world’s first international peace park is at risk from proposed Flathead energy and mining developments. The mission’s report has not yet been completed.
“BC’s land use plan for the Flathead is completely incompatible with the values of the adjoining World Heritage Site,” said Sarah Cox from Sierra Club BC. “Our international reputation could be at risk on the eve of the Olympic Winter Games if the province continues with its foolhardy plan to prioritize energy and mining development in this special place.”
UNESCO’s World Heritage Committee voted unanimously in June 2009 to send a fact-finding mission to investigate threats to Waterton-Glacier--following a petition by Sierra Club BC and 10 other US and Canadian conservation groups.
The mission will “evaluate and provide recommendations on the requirements for ensuring the protection” of Waterton-Glacier, citing concern about the threats that potential mining and energy development within the Flathead Valley would have on water and ecosystem connectivity.
The World Heritage Committee also asked Canada and the US to work together to prepare a report--by February 1, 2010-- that examines all Flathead River Valley energy and mining proposals and their cumulative impacts.
The committee noted that “The integrity of the property is inextricably linked with the quality of stewardship of the adjacent areas within the international Crown of the Continent ecosystem” and said “the protection of the property must be managed within the context of this greater ecosystem.” It also recognized the “high level of public concern” about a proposed coal strip mine and other energy and mining development in BC’s Flathead River Valley, which forms an integral part of the same ecosystem and provides critical habitat for rare and endangered species migrating to and from Waterton-Glacier.
Sierra Club BC and other groups are calling for a National Park in the lower one-third of the Flathead Valley and for a Wildlife Management Area to be established in the rest of the valley and adjoining habitat.
