A plan to forever protect Canadian wildlands north of Glacier National Park — and to pay for those protections — is slowly taking shape, cobbled together by an international coalition that includes local, state and federal partners.

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Gov. Brian Schweitzer isn’t done jousting with federal officials over a deal with Canada to protect the area surrounding Glacier National Park.

Montana’s governor used the bully pulpit over the weekend as chairman of the Western governors to again criticize his federal partners in the deal — even as the Obama administration was talking with the Canada about moving the state-level pact along.

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Gov. Brian Schweitzer called on Montana’s federal delegation Sunday to support legislation by Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Oregon, dedicated to restoring the Columbia River Basin, as a way to fund commitments in the agreement between Montana and British Columbia to protect the North Fork from mining and drilling in Canada.

“Don’t be running after the bus, get on the bus and sit beside the driver,” Schweitzer said. “And this bill is the vehicle.”

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The historic agreement banning natural resource development along the North Fork Flathead River, signed by Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer and British Columbia Premier Gordon Campbell earlier this year, contains language saying the retirement of oil, gas and mineral leases must be completed by July.

It is a deadline, Schweitzer acknowledged last week, “in doubt.”

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An agreement to protect the American and Canadian sides of the Flathead River Basin from mining and energy extraction is holding together, even though snags have developed in financing the deal.

Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer met with British Columbia Premier Gordon Campbell in Victoria on Wednesday and returned with assurances their memorandum of understanding on the Flathead’s protection would survive a July deadline.

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The Missoulian has the best coverage . . .

With an exchange of bolo ties and Olympic mittens, Gov. Brian Schweitzer and British Columbia Premier Gordon Campbell signed an agreement in Vancouver to ban mineral and energy extraction in the cross-border Flathead River Basin on Thursday morning.

“I’m not taking credit for this,” Schweitzer said after the ceremony. “There are people who’ve spent their lifetime working on this goal. I’ve run one lap. And now I’m handing the baton along to the congressional delegation. They have a tall order to convince their colleagues this is the right thing and the right time to do it.”

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For those of you who like to read source documents, here is the full text of the “Memorandum of Understanding and Cooperation on Environmental Protection, Climate Action and Energy” signed today by Premier Campbell and Governor Schweitzer and witnessed by Kathryn Teneese, Chair of Ktunaxa Nation Council and Michel Kenmille, Council Member of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes.

To sense the delicacy of an international mining ban along the North Fork of the Flathead River, it helps to hear what isn’t being said.

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Note: We’ve also posted the February 9th “Flathead Watershed Area Order” that triggered all the excitement and discussion.

British Columbia’s government has formalized its promise to protect wildlands north of Glacier National Park, signing a legislative order that effectively bans mining in the Canadian Flathead.

Called the Flathead Watershed Area Order, the law signed Tuesday completely reverses a longstanding land-use plan for the area, which gave drilling and mining primacy over all other uses.

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The Daily Inter Lake did a nice, balanced job . . .

The lieutenant governor of British Columbia announced Tuesday that all types of mining and oil and gas development “will not be permitted” in the province’s portion of the Flathead Valley.

It was news that was well received in Montana.

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Unsurprisingly, the Environmental News Service write-up was a bit heavier on quotes from various environmental outfits, but also includes considerable background information . . .

Mining and drilling for oil, gas and coal will be banned in the Canadian portion of the Flathead River Basin, under a new partnership with the state of Montana announced Tuesday in British Columbia’s Speech from the Throne, an annual address that identifies the Province’s legislative priorities for the coming year.

British Columbia Lieutenant Governor Steven Point declared, “A new partnership with Montana will sustain the environmental values in the Flathead River Basin in a manner consistent with current forestry, recreation, guide outfitting and trapping uses. It will identify permissible land uses and establish new collaborative approaches to transboundary issues.”

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Currently, the Missoulian has the most detailed coverage . . .

British Columbia Lt. Gov. Steven Point declared the Canadian portion of the Flathead River Valley off limits to mining and energy extraction in a speech to his parliament on Tuesday.

Citing a new partnership with Montana, Point said the Flathead River Basin would be managed for existing types of forestry, recreation, guide outfitting and trapping uses.

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The Flathead Beacon has an Associated Press write-up . . .

British Columbia’s government said Tuesday it will not permit mining or drilling in a remote valley along the Montana border that companies have been trying to develop for 25 years.

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