Here’s a sampler . . .

The research of these scientists is likely to be heavily relied upon by members of a United Nations fact-finding mission arriving in the region some time in the next year to determine whether Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park should be designated a “World Heritage Site in Danger.” The unanimous June vote in Seville, Spain, by a 21-country panel of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) could mean widespread attention will once again be drawn to the issue of threats from mining and drilling operations in southeastern British Columbia along the headwaters of the North Fork, which serves as the western boundary of Glacier National Park.

Read the entire article . . .

Here’s the lead-in from the press release. See the Waterton-Glacier in Danger site for details and breaking news . . .

Seville, Spain–UNESCO’s World Heritage Committee voted today to send a fact-finding mission to Canada to investigate threats to Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park posed by energy and mining proposals in BC’s adjacent Flathead River Valley.

The 21-member committee voted unanimously for a 2009 World Heritage Centre mission that will “evaluate and provide recommendations on the requirements for ensuring the protection” of Waterton-Glacier, citing concern about the threats that potential mining and energy development within the Flathead Valley would have on water and ecosystem connectivity. It asked Canada and the US to work together to prepare a report–by February 1, 2010– that examines all Flathead River Valley energy and mining proposals and their cumulative impacts.

Read the full press release . . .

The UN World Heritage Committee meeting in Seville, Spain runs through June 30th. The schedule document is more than a little opaque, so it is not clear when the resolution on Waterton-Glacier will come up for a final vote.

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 . . .

As the threat of large-scale mining continues to bear down on the headwaters of the Flathead River Basin – and as funding for conservation research hits a snag – Ric Hauer believes the North Fork Flathead River’s recent designation as one of the most endangered rivers in North America arrives with appropriate timing.

Read the entire article . . .

Here’s the lead . . .

On a bright blue day at Blankenship black bugs come off the water and land on your head and arms and hat. They would be annoying if they weren’t such a good omen, because these black bugs are no ordinary bugs.

They’re stoneflies and they make their living in the tiny cracks between the rocks of the North Fork of the Flathead River. They’re annoying to us, maybe. But to trout they’re like candy. To trout they’re food staple.

Stoneflies in a river mean it’s clean and pure and unpolluted. Because streams that are polluted have sediments and filth that fill those cracks between the rocks that ultimately choke out the stoneflies entirely.

Put a coal mine along a stream and that’s what gets squeezed out first — the stoneflies from sediment washing into the river…

Read the entire article . . .

The North Fork Flathead River, a wild waterway forming the western edge of Glacier National Park, has recently been listed as one of the most endangered rivers in North America.

Canadian coal mine proposals and plans for coalbed methane and gold exploration all threaten the North Fork’s headwaters, according to both U.S. and Canadian watchdogs.

“Countries may recognize borders, but rivers don’t, and pollution doesn’t stop at the border,” said Will Hammerquist of the National Parks Conservation Association. His group, along with the Flathead Coalition, recently nominated the North Fork for inclusion in “America’s Most Endangered Rivers.”

Read the entire article . . .

Here’s the lead . . .

An “indefinite opportunity” for coal mining and other resource development in Canada has put the North Fork Flathead River on a list of the nation’s 10 most endangered rivers.

American Rivers, the country’s leading river conservation organization, ranks the North Fork fifth on its 2009 list.

Read the entire article . . .

The Flathead River, which flows through southeastern BC into Montana, tops British Columbia’s most endangered rivers list for 2009 due to concerns about a controversial proposed open pit coal mine. The Flathead, which was number two on last year’s list, is widely considered one of North America’s wildest and most beautiful waterways. “The Flathead supports important trans-boundary fish populations while also sustaining the highest density of inland grizzly bears anywhere in North America”, said Mark Angelo, Rivers Chair for the Outdoor Recreation Council and an Order of Canada recipient.

Yet, while the US section is protected, the BC stretch faces a number of threats, the most prominent being the proposed Cline open pit coal mine. Given the size and location of the mine in the river’s headwaters, water quality would be impacted and recreational, wildlife and wilderness values would be greatly compromised.

For the full text of the press release and the associated backgrounder document, see the ORBC’s Endangered Rivers page.

UPDATE: Not strictly related to the Canadian Flathead — at least, not yet — but the ORBC is also concerned with the impact of “green” power projects on a number of B.C.’s rivers. The Vancouver Sun has coverage of this issue.

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 . . .