A report commissioned by the UNESCO World Heritage Committee calls for a “conservation and wildlife management plan” for the transboundary Flathead and a new management plan for the Flathead River Valley that “gives priority to natural ecological values and wildlife conservation.” Read the press release.

Sierra Club BC and its partners petitioned the World Heritage Committee in 2008, asking that Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park be designated a “World Heritage Site in Danger” due to energy and mining development in the Flathead, which lies adjacent to the park.

A World Heritage Committee mission visited the Flathead last year. Their final report, released July 26 in Brazil, recognizes that B.C.’s Flathead “plays a crucial role in maintaining north-south connectivity in the Rockies.” It also notes that the “huge area of intact nature” in the Crown of the Continent ecosystem, which includes B.C.’s Flathead, offers “the best available environment to allow resilience and adaptation for plants and animals faced with climate-induced challenges to their survival.”

Photo: Joe Riis, iLCP

Located in the southeast corner of B.C., the Flathead River Valley is the last unsettled low elevation valley in southern Canada. It teems with wildlife, including many species of animals that are threatened elsewhere, and has the greatest diversity of plants in all of Canada. It is part of the same ecosystem that is protected in Alberta and Montana as the transboundary Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park.

Get to know the Flathead better - watch our video:

The mission report says that “the Waterton-Glacier World Heritage property forms the core protected area in this regional ecosystem, and its natural integrity is inextricably linked with the neighbouring transboundary Flathead watershed.”

The report recommends a single conservation and management plan for the transboundary Flathead, as well as taking steps to minimize barriers to wildlife connectivity, including a long-term moratorium on further mining developments in southern B.C. Click here to read the full report.

On July 30, the World Heritage Committee accepted the mission report and requested that Canada and the US pay particular attention to its results and recommendations. Read the press release.

In summarizing the UNESCO mission report in their "state of conservation" report, the World Heritage Committee noted “that the entire Flathead basin, in Canada and the United States of America, is important for protecting, maintaining and buffering" the Waterton-Glacier World Heritage Site. It also reiterated the UNESCO mission recommendation that a “single conservation and wildlife management plan be developed for the transboundary Flathead.”

Photo: Joe Riis, iLCP

“The World Heritage Committee has said that more needs to be done, and we have the solution, “ said Sarah Cox of Sierra Club BC. “A national park in the southeastern one-third of the Flathead is needed to protect Rocky Mountain wildlife.”

Watch Sarah Cox speak about the mission report and its implications:

While the report is likely a hopeful sign for the future of the Flathead Valley, the area remains under threat from large clear-cut logging operations with extensive road building that are planned in the Flathead starting this summer, and motorized road access in the Flathead that was recently increased next to the World Heritage Site. On-going concerns also remain about the long-term viability of regional grizzly bear populations.

At the regional scale, two new coal strip mines in the adjoining Elk Valley and new coal exploration in the proposed Wildlife Management Area also pose a serious threat to wildlife connectivity. Learn more about current threats to the Flathead.

Sierra Club BC, along with partner organizations, is urging the B.C. government to work with Ottawa, Montana and Washington to protect the Flathead permanently. Let Harper and Campbell know you support a national park in the south-eastern one-third of the valley and a wildlife management area in the adjoining habitat.