In mid-December the U.S. Senate passed the North Fork Watershed Protection Act. Sierra Club BC has been waiting for this legislation since 2010, when the B.C.-Montana Memorandum of Understanding was signed promising to ban mining and oil and gas development in the entire transnational Flathead watershed.
Map showing the proposed international wildlife corridor, which will include the southeastern one-third of the Flathead River Valley.
This legislation represents a truly significant accomplishment for the B.C.–Montana relationship, and the continued protection of the Flathead River. We thank you for your continued support to protect this critical wildlife corridor.
Now that we have a cross border ban on oil and gas and mining along the Flathead River, we need to press the Canadian and B.C. governments to establish a national park in the Canadian Flathead to match Glacier in Montana and Waterton Lakes in Alberta.
Montana and B.C. had been at odds over appropriate industrial development in the Flathead watershed since 1975 when a mountaintop removal coal mine was proposed just six miles north of the international border. That initial dispute took 13 years to settle, and required the intervention of the International Joint Commission (IJC).
The Flathead River Valley is one of the most biologically important places in North America, and one of the last unsettled river valleys in all of Canada. It is an important home for species that have lost habitat elsewhere, like grizzly bear and wolverine.
The decision to ban mining and energy development in the watershed did not come easily. Ultimately, it was the strong voices of the public from both sides of the border that forced decision-makers to pass this legislation.
This legislation settles the mining issue once and for all, and that’s hugely significant. But if you look at a map of Waterton-Glacier Park you notice immediately that B.C. does not contribute to the national park complex. In order to conserve this internationally-recognized wildlife corridor, B.C. needs to consent to establishing a national park wilderness reserve in the lower, southeastern one-third of the Flathead watershed.
The very first superintendent of Waterton Lakes National Park, George “Kootenai” Brown, observed more than 100 years ago that Waterton needed to expand into the B.C. Flathead. It is indeed encouraging to see continual progress toward achieving Kootenai Brown’s dream.
Sign the petition to protect and connect the Flathead.
