Mining could put Waterton park 'in danger'

A United Nations report says the renowned Wa t e r t o n-Glacier International Peace Park could face the prospect of being listed a world heritage site in danger if mining applications in the adjacent Flathead River Valley were to ever progress to the review stage.

A United Nations report says the renowned Wa t e r t o n-Glacier International Peace Park could face the prospect of being listed a world heritage site in danger if mining applications in the adjacent Flathead River Valley were to ever progress to the review stage.

This according to a United States National Park Service official who has received the report and says the document is recommending a moratorium on mining and energy development in the area, in southeastern B.C.

Stephen Morris, the chief of international affairs for the National Park Service, says his U.S. governmental agency agrees with the recommended moratorium and believes that to allow mining in the Flathead would threaten the "ecological and wildlife values" of the international park.

"They do mention that if the mining proposals advance to the application review stage then that would be a basis for inscribing (the park) on the list of world heritage in danger," Morris said of the report.

"That's a list that's maintained by the world heritage committee of sites that are facing major threats and are at risk of losing the values for which they were placed on the world heritage list.

"It's meant really as a call to action."

There currently is no mining or oil and gas drilling in the Flathead River Valley, although one gold company is exploring in the area. The B.C. government says any proposal would have to meet very high environmental standards.

Naomi Yamamoto, B.C. minister of state for intergovernmental relations, said she has not read the report but that provincial staff are putting together a response.

She said there has been sustainable forestry and recreational use in the Flathead Valley over the years, and that the absence to date of an active mine is evidence of the "stringent rules" that would accompany mining in such a "very special place."

The report, prepared by UN world heritage experts who travelled to the park and the Flathead in September, is due to be released in July.

For its part, Parks Canada officials are still evaluating what's in the report. It would be premature to express a view on it before fulling understanding its contents, said Larry Ostola, director general of national historic sites with Parks Canada.

"We take our responsibilities related to world heritage sites very very seriously," Ostola said, speaking from Ottawa. "We have worked closely with the United States, with the government of British Columbia and with other stakeholders who are associated with other world heritage sites in Canada. So we keep a close eye on this type of thing."

The Flathead River Valley has been something of a flashpoint, with environmentalists long arguing the area is so ecologically important that it must be protected from any mining or energy development.

The bottom third should be wrapped into Waterton-Glacier, they say, with the rest declared a wildlife management area. "There's been nothing big there yet," said Sarah Cox with Sierra Club B.C. "We need to gain permanent protection for the lower one-third of the Flathead valley to ensure that big mines and little mines are not put there given the area's world class wildlife values."

Morris says the report also recommends the Flathead be kept in its natural state, given the stress of climate change.

"We feel that allowing mining would have very negative impacts on the ecological and wildlife values and would directly effect the world heritage site including Glacier National Park," Morris said.