Posted early this morning to the Missoulian’s website . . .
A measure that would ban federal-land mining along Glacier National Park’s western edge has passed a major Senate hurdle, and has been expanded to provide water-quality protections for nearby communities…
…the bill banning future federal mine leases has been expanded from its original to include the watershed upstream of Whitefish Lake, the nearby Haskill Basin drainage, and the wild and scenic Middle Fork Flathead corridor.
From the Associated Press . . .
Montana’s U.S. Senators Max Baucus and Jon Tester announced today that their federal legislation to protect the Upper Flathead Valley has cleared a major hurdle.
Posted today to the Flathead Wild website . . .
Work still needs to be done to protect wildlife in the Flathead and surrounding areas, and to ensure that Rocky Mountain wildlife connectivity is not compromised by forestry practices and other development, the UNESCO World Heritage Committee said today in a “state of conservation” report.
The state of conservation report recommends “development of a pro-active plan for enhancing connectivity” in the Flathead River Valley and adjoining areas. It also raises concerns about proposed mine expansions in southeastern British Columbia, adjacent to the Flathead, “in a corridor providing vital habitat connectivity to the Rocky Mountains World Heritage property in Alberta” [the Banff, Jasper, Yoho and Kootenay National Parks].
The folks at Flathead Wild posted a good summary of the high points of the UNESCO World Heritage report on threats to Waterton-Glacier Park, along with links to major press coverage — both print and video.
Here’s the lead-in . . .
Great news for Friends of the Flathead! A UNESCO World Heritage report is recommending a permanent prohibition on mining in the Flathead River Valley. And that a single conservation and wildlife management plan be developed for the entire trans-boundary Flathead region.
The report also says the adjacent Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park should be declared a World Heritage Site in Danger if plans proceed for a controversial Flathead coal strip mine.
This week’s Hungry Horse News has a decent write-up on the UN World Heritage Committee scientific mission report on threats to Waterton-Glacier Park . . .
Scientists from the United Nations are calling for a moratorium on mining in the Canadian Flathead, just north of Glacier National Park.
Last fall Paul Dingwall, a New Zealand scientist with the World Conservation Union and the World Wide Fund for Nature, and Keshore Rao, deputy director of the United Nation’s World Heritage Center, toured Glacier and Waterton Parks as well as the Canadian Flathead. They wanted to see for themselves the potential impacts of proposed coal, coal bed methane and gold mines in Canada on the Park.
“Their basic conclusion is they have no doubt that mining is incompatible,” with the park, said Stephen Morris, chief of international affairs for the National Parks Service.
Canadian press coverage of the World Heritage scientific mission report on threats to Waterton-Glacier Park is a bit more thorough than the articles posted in local papers. Not surprising, since the report primarily targets proposed resource extraction activities in the Canadian Flathead.
Here are a couple examples. Both are recommended reading for anyone interested in this issue.
From the Vancouver Sun . . .
A United Nations report has recommended a moratorium on mining in the controversial Flathead Valley of southeastern B.C. and development of a comprehensive transboundary conservation and wildlife management plan for the area, a U.S. official revealed Thursday.
Stephen Morris, chief of international affairs for the National Park Service, said in an interview from Washington, D.C., that he has received a copy of a fact-finding mission report by two UN world heritage representatives who visited the area in September.
And from the Lethbridge Herald . . .
No mining activity in the Flathead Valley is safe mining activity when it comes to protecting the Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park, suggests a UNESCO report now in the hands of federal government officials in Canada and the U.S.
“I don’t want to get into too much of the detail, but the overriding recommendation is that in the view of the mission, they see mining in the Flathead watershed as creating unacceptable impacts on the outstanding universal value of the World Heritage Site, and they don’t think there’s a compromise position,” said Stephen Morris, head of the international affairs office for the U.S. National Park Service.
Today’s Missoulian has more information on the report by the UNESCO World Heritage Committee scientific mission regarding threats to Waterton-Glacier Park . . .
An international team of UNESCO scientists has recommended a moratorium on mining north of Glacier National Park, a conclusion that echoes the longstanding sentiment of locals on both sides of the border.
“Their conclusions were very sweeping,” said Stephen Morris, “in that there is no possibility whatsoever of proceeding with mining in the Canadian Flathead without having substantial impacts on the World Heritage Site.”
Although not yet officially published, the report of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee scientific mission sent last September to investigate threats to Waterton-Glacier Park is in circulation.
The Associated Press broke the story . . .
U.N. scientists have recommended a moratorium on mining in British Columbia’s Flathead Valley and the creation of a conservation plan for the remote region spanning the United States-Canada border, a U.S. official said Thursday.
Several companies have announced plans to extract coal, natural gas and gold within the Canadian stretch of the valley, which is near Alberta’s Waterton Lakes National Park and Montana’s Glacier National Park.
But the call for curbs on mining is likely to increase international pressure on Canada to put those plans on hold.
From today’s Flathead Beacon . . .
If a picture is worth a thousand words, a group of conservation photographers is giving the Flathead an ample voice as an exhibit on the values of and threats to the valley heads to Washington D.C.
The “Montana’s News Station” web site, which includes KPAX-TV in Missoula and KAJ in Kalispell, posted a short report on the planned World Heritage Committee investigation into threats to Waterton-Glacier Park . . .
International scientists will visit the Flathead Valley in the fall to investigate potential threats to Waterton Glacier International Peace Park from mining proposals in southern British Columbia.
Eleven environmental groups in the United States and Canada asked the World Heritage Committee to declare the world’s first peace park in danger.
Conservationists say the overall goal is not to have Waterton Glacier listed as in danger, but to work with Canada and British Columbia to develop a long term solution to protect the peace park.