A report commissioned by the UNESCO World Heritage Committee is calling for a “conservation and wildlife management plan” for the transboundary Flathead and a new management plan for the Flathead River Valley that “gives priority to natural ecological values and wildlife conservation.”…

The 50-page report, released today at the World Heritage Committee meeting in Brasilia, recommends:

• A new B.C. Southern Rocky Mountains Management Plan “that gives priority to natural ecological values and wildlife conservation.”
• Taking steps to minimize barriers to wildlife connectivity, including a long-term moratorium on further mining developments in south eastern B.C., including in the Elk Valley, “in the corridor of natural terrain that creates vital habitat connectivity and allows the unimpeded movement of carnivores and ungulates” between Waterton-Glacier and Canada’s Rocky Mountains national parks.
• A single conservation and wildlife management plan for the transboundary Flathead.
• Inscription of Waterton-Glacier on the list of World Heritage in Danger if development of the proposed Lodgepole coal strip mine had proceeded (the B.C. government banned Flathead mining and energy development in February 2010 after receiving a draft copy of the mission report).

For those of you who prefer to get your information directly from source documents, we’ve made the full report available for direct viewing/download (50 pages, PDF format, 2MB).

The Flathead Lakers will present their annual Stewardship Award to Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer and British Columbia Premier Gordon Campbell at their annual meeting on July 15.

The award will recognize the landmark agreement the two leaders signed in February banning mining and oil-and-gas development in the North Fork Flathead watershed, headwaters to Flathead Lake.

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Despite a common goal of securing permanent environmental protection for the North Fork of the Flathead River, Montana’s governor and senators don’t appear to be on the same page. The differences between the positions of Gov. Brian Schweitzer and Sens. Max Baucus and Jon Tester extend from the binding strength of the memorandum of understanding between Montana and British Columbia to the necessity of an international treaty to protect the transboundary Flathead region. And these policy differences are becoming increasingly glaring.

Read the entire article (recommended) . . .

Gov. Brian Schweitzer is facing sharp questions from Montana’s congressional delegation over the way the governor has handled an agreement with Canada to protect the Glacier National Park area.

Schweitzer inked a deal with Canadian officials earlier this year promising that both sides would move to permanently protect the Flathead region from development. The governor promised the U.S. side would come up with millions to buy out two Canadian companies — a promise Schweitzer apparently made without first getting federal officials on board.

The Democratic governor had been critical of the congressional delegation — U.S. Sens. Max Baucus and Jon Tester along with Rep. Denny Rehberg — for failing to come up with the cash.

Tester and Baucus, both Democrats, sent an unusually terse letter to the governor Wednesday. In it, they pointedly ask where Schweitzer expected the money to come from — and where it would go.

Read the full article (highly recommended) . . .

For additional background, read the text of Wednesday’s letter to Gov. Schweitzer from Sens. Max Baucus and Jon Tester.

A deal to permanently protect the North Fork of the Flathead from mining and energy exploration could ultimately be resolved in a treaty between the two countries.

President Barack Obama and Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced Monday that they were directing their federal agencies to look at ways of solidifying a deal struck between Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer and British Columbia Prime Minister Gordon Campbell in February.

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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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