The Flathead: More than Just Another Pretty Valley

The Flathead River Valley, tucked into BC’s southeast corner, 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."

The Flathead teems with many species that are threatened elsewhere, including grizzlies, lynx, fishers, wolverines and bull trout. The Flathead, with the greatest diversity of plants in all of Canada, is compared to Africa’s Serengeti for its richness of plant species. Water in the Flathead River is so pure that scientists use it as a benchmark by which to measure water quality in rivers around the world. A Special Place. 

The Flathead River Valley should be BC’s top priority for protection. Instead, it is threatened by a land use plan that favours industrial activity of the most environmentally destructive kind. One proposal under consideration by the BC government is for mountain-top removal coal mining that would see pollutants and slag dumped into a headwaters stream of the pure and free-flowing Flathead River.

BP Canada Energy Company, a subsidiary of energy giant British Petroleum, proposed to extract coalbed methane from a vast area straddling the Flathead and Elk watersheds. In December 2008, the provincial government granted BP tenure but exempted the Flathead due to its "environmental sensitivity". Until the Flathead is permanently protected, it remains vulnerable to future proposals for coalbed methane drilling. Multiple phosphate and precious metals exploration drilling permits have also been issued in the Flathead in recent years. Threats to the Flathead.

Sierra Club BC and other conservation groups are working hard to keep the Flathead River Valley wild and free. We want to protect the lower one-third of the Flathead Valley as a National Park and to establish a Wildlife Management Area in the rest of the valley and adjoining habitat. 

A November 2008 poll shows that seven out of 10 Kootenay residents want to protect the Flathead River Valley as a national park. The first step to protection is for the provincial government to establish a no-staking reserve in the valley. Our Campaign.

Saving the Flathead offers a last chance to fill in the missing piece of the Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park established by Alberta and Montana—as well as a last chance to preserve a vital corridor for wildlife moving north and south through the Rocky Mountains. The United Nations has designated Waterton-Glacier a World Heritage Site and Biosphere Reserve. Parks Canada has a long-standing interest in protecting the Flathead River Valley and completing the International Peace Park. Solutions that Work.

The BC government must agree to make the Flathead River Valley a national park. Premier Gordon Campbell says he has not heard from enough British Columbians that they support a National Park in the Flathead. You can help by writing a letter to Premier Gordon Campbell, signing and circulating our Save the Flathead petition, writing a letter to the editor of your local newspaper, or organizing a showing of the Sierra Club’s Flathead multimedia presentation. What You Can Do.

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