Tag Archives: Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park

UN to hear petition that Waterton-Glacier Park in danger

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Last Tuesday’s Globe and Mail carried an article on the move to place Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park on the UN list of endangered World Heritage Sites due to the proposed Cline Coal Mine in the Canadian Flathead and other possible resource extraction activities in that area. (Thanks to Will Hammerquist of the National Parks Conservation Association for catching this one.)

A stunningly beautiful park that spans the Canada-U.S. border in southwestern Alberta may soon be added to an infamous United Nations list of the world’s most threatened special areas.

In a session in Seville, Spain, next month, the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization will consider a petition by 11 conservation groups asking that Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park be designated a World Heritage Site in Danger.

“If that happens, it would be a really big black eye for both Canada and the United States,” Ryland Nelson, a spokesman for one of the petitioning groups, Wildsight, said yesterday.

Read the entire article . . .

North Fork plight in U.N. spotlight

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From this week’s online edition of the Hungry Horse News . . .

Sen. Max Baucus last week said he would push to have the North Fork of the Flathead designated as a World Heritage Site in Danger, a dubious distinction as Glacier National Park turns 100 next year.

The North Fork will see the international limelight in June, when Will Hammerquist, the Glacier representative of the National Park Conservation Association and Ryland Nelson, of the Canadian environmental organization Wildsight, will testify in front of a United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization World Heritage panel.

Read the entire article . . .

NPCA information on North Fork and Glacier Park

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With all the coverage the Trans-boundary Flathead has gotten over the past few weeks, it seemed appropriate to point out that the U.S.-based National Parks Conservation Association (NPCA) also has a dog in that fight. They maintain a web page discussing the threats to Glacier Park and the adjoining Flathead River Valley arising from potential resource development in the Canadian Flathead, as well as links to a great deal of supporting material and related documentation. The NPCA is also advocating for the U.N. to designate Waterton-Glacier Park as an endangered World Heritage Site, a move that would focus additional international attention on  the situation.

Campaign to save the Flathead River Valley launches in B.C.

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The Sierra Club BC, Wildsight, Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society – BC Chapter and Flathead Wild recently launched a drive to save British Columbia’s Flathead River Valley. They hope to get the southern third designated as a national park, effectively filling out Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park, and protect the remainder by establishing it as part of a wildlife management area. See the Friends of the Flathead website for more information.

Groups renew call to expand Waterton into B. C. river valley

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From the Saturday, January 31, 2009 online edition of the Calgary Herald . . .

Conservation groups are renewing calls for Waterton Lakes National Park to be expanded into the Flathead River Valley, despite British Columbia’s decision to close the door to coal bed methane development in the ecologically key area in southeastern B.C.

The Sierra Club, Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society, Wildsight and others say the relatively untouched valley is still imperilled.

“Until we have permanent protection for the Flathead River Valley in the form of a national park, it is still threatened by future coal bed methane proposals,” said Sarah Cox, a spokeswoman for Sierra Club B. C. “And it’s under threat from a proposal for strip mining coal and other minerals.”

Read the entire article . . .

Glacier Park seeks wilderness designation

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From the Tuesday, November 24, 2008 online edition of the Missoulian . . .

When Glacier National Park celebrates its big birthday in 2010, not a few folk are hoping the 100 candles on the centennial cake will be arranged in the shape of a giant “W.”

That’s capital “W,” as in formal wilderness status, a designation that has eluded these 1 million acres since the early 1970s.

Read the entire article . . .

Note: This was the third in a series of articles the Missoulian published concerning Glacier National Park. The previous articles were “Park turns to private donations” and “Glacier road in funding limbo.“