FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Flathead Valley Media Advisory

Sierra Club BC and partner organizations present “an evening of extraordinary images and action” for the Flathead River Valley on Thursday March 25 at Alix Goolden Hall, from 7-9 p.m.

Sierra Club BC and partner organizations present “an evening of extraordinary images and action” for the Flathead River Valley on Thursday March 25 at Alix Goolden Hall, from 7-9 p.m.

Guest speakers include mountaineering legend Pat Morrow, one of the first people in the world to summit the tallest peaks on all seven continents, and University of Victoria scientist Richard Hebda, who will focus on the urgent need to protect the Flathead in light of climate change. Simon Jackson, of the Spirit Bear Youth Coalition, will close the evening with a rallying call for action to protect the Flathead River Valley permanently.

On February 9, the B.C. government announced a ban on Flathead mining and oil and gas development. Although a welcome first step, the ban has not been legislated. The Flathead--a hotspot for biodiversity and home to the largest concentration of grizzlies in interior North America--needs permanent protection. 

Sierra Club BC, Wildsight and the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society are calling for a National Park in the southeastern one-third of the Flathead River Valley, and a Wildlife Management Area in the rest of the valley and adjoining habitat that will preserve an age-old wildlife corridor through the Rocky Mountains.

The Flathead has some of the world’s purest water, more plant species than anywhere else in Canada, and the greatest concentration and diversity of carnivores on the continent. It has long been recognized as the missing piece of the adjoining Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park—a World Heritage Site and UNESCO Biosphere Reserve.

###