This guest commentary by Dan Short, Treasurer of Montana Trout Unlimited, appeared in the Friday, August 10, 2007 online editions of the Flathead Beacon, the Missoulian and possibly other newspapers around Montana . . .
As the treasurer of Montana Trout Unlimited, I write to express our organization’s serious concern regarding potential coal bed methane extraction and open pit coal mining at the headwaters of Glacier National Park and Flathead Lake.
Montana TU is a grassroots organization comprised of nearly 3,400 sportsmen and sportswomen who love to fish for native trout in our state’s clean, cold mountain waters. Recent years have been hard on our dwindling native fish. It is incumbent upon all Montanans to take proactive steps to ensure future generations have the same opportunities to enjoy our state’s legacy of great trout fishing.
Recent studies by Montana Fish, Wildlife, and Parks verify that significant numbers of native trout in the Flathead River basin cross the border into Canada. Westslope cutthroat trout that live most of their lives in the United States spawn in British Columbia. As a result, industrial coal field development in the Canadian Flathead has the potential to significantly harm Flathead River trout populations.
Read the entire article . . .