An effort to protect the transboundary Flathead River from mining and energy development moved a step forward Tuesday in the British Columbia Parliament.

Montana’s Gov. Brian Schweitzer and then-B.C. Premier Gordon Campbell signed a memorandum of understanding last year preserving the Flathead watershed, which borders Glacier National Park and the mountains west of Waterton Lakes National Park in Alberta. Montana Sen. Max Baucus put a bill in Congress to solidify the commitment on the U.S. side; it’s still awaiting action.

On Tuesday, B.C. Minister of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations Steve Thomson announced a similar measure was put before the B.C. Parliament. The bill would prohibit issuing permits for mining, oil and gas development.

Continue reading . . .

British Columbia’s new premier, Christie Clark, has made good on her predecessor Gordon Campbell’s commitment to ban mining and energy extraction in the headwaters of the transboundary Flathead River.

Yesterday, her Minister of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations, Steve Thomson, introduced Bill 2, the Flathead Watershed Area Conservation Act.

With the certain passage of this bill this year, B.C. will have completed its commitment to ban mining and energy extraction as one part of the historic B.C. – Montana MOU signed in February 2010 at the start of the Vancouver Winter Olympics.

The Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC) and The Nature Conservancy of Montana (TNC) will provide $9.4 million to fund the conservation aspects of the agreement and compensate the ‘sunk costs’ of mining and energy companies with leases (tenures) in the watershed.

On the Montana side, senators Baucus and Tester’s senate bill 233, the North Fork Watershed Protection Act of 2011, awaits Senate committee action…

A related note by Jon Frederick, NFPA President:

If you want to send money to help make the Memorandum of Understanding complete — that is, to help the Nature Conservancies of The U.S. and Canada pay for expenditures of the exploration companies in the Flathead of British Columbia — write a check to The Nature Conservancy and send it to The Nature Conservancy, 32 South Ewing Street, Helena, MT 59601. Write “Flathead Now! Campaign” in the lower left corner or it won’t go where you wish.

We need your help.  Do you have just one day this summer to spend at spectacular Logan Pass to help complete the world’s first Peace Park: Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park?

Last summer Headwaters Montana sponsored volunteers at Logan Pass in Glacier National Park to collect signed post cards from visitors who support doubling the size of Waterton Lakes National Park into the Flathead Valley in British Columbia (see map here).  Volunteers collected the names of over 3,000 supporters last summer alone. The campaign to ‘Complete the Park’ and ‘Protect the Flathead’ now has well over 10,000 visible and vocal supporters.

Each supporter, like you, adds to the mounting inevitability of expanding Waterton Park.  And while we already enjoy a super majority of supporters in south-east British Columbia and across the international boundary in Montana, we need to continue to build support to push this effort over the finish line.

We can achieve a breakthrough in the next year with your help.

Can You Help?

With you helping to collect signatures at Logan Pass we will:

• Collect more signatures, faster;
• Have more supporters ready to write elected officials at critical times;
• Double Waterton and Complete the Park in 2012.

Here’s How You Can Volunteer

1. Choose a date to volunteer between July 25 and August 21;
2. Call Gina at 257-1122, 871-3237 (cell) or Dave at 837-0783, or email, to sign up;
3. Plan to arrive at the West Glacier entrance to Glacier Park at 8:30am on your volunteer day (pack food, water, and a smile);
4. Plan to return to West Glacier no later than 5pm.

Visitors to Logan Pass are very friendly and very receptive to the idea of expanding and completing the Park.  This is very fun and easy duty!

Every Person Counts

You as a Montana and U.S. citizen can help posititively influence the B.C. and Canadian governments to expand Waterton Park.  Many thousands of Canadians travel across Logan Pass every summer.  In addition, you will sign up thousands of fellow Americans.  Citizens from both our countries have a voice in completing the Peace Park.

The Flathead (the North Fork Flathead River, a.k.a. the Transboundary Flathead) is one of the most biologically rich and intact landscapes and ecosystems remaining on Earth.  It’s a vital linkage area that connects the Canadian Rockies to the U.S. Rockies.

The campaign to protect this region has three key goals:

1. Expand Waterton Park into the south-east one third of the B.C. Flathead Valley;
2. Establish a Wildlife Management Area (WMA) between the international border and the Canadian Rocky Mountain parks (Banff and Jasper);
3. Ban mining and energy extraction from the entire Transboundary Flathead watershed (accomplished!).

Be a part of history in the making.  Please volunteer today.

Since Gov. Brian Schweitzer signed a memorandum of understanding with British Columbia, which promised up to 17 million dollars to Canadian companies for reimbursement for cash already spent, we have all wondered where he would find the money. Montana could not pay and for months efforts were made, without success, to get Uncle Sam to foot the bill.

Now it seems that an answer has been found! The Nature Conservancy of Canada and the U.S. Nature Conservancy have committed $9.4 million to the government of British Columbia to conclude the British Columbia-Montana memo of understanding signed a year ago. As part of the deal, the province of British Columbia will enact legislation banning the extraction of minerals, oil, gas, and coal within the watershed. With the two nature conservancy groups coming up with this money, protection of the upper North Fork is an important step towards completion.

Continue reading . . .

Here’s the lead-in . . .

Legislation to prohibit mining and energy development in the Flathead River Valley is only the first of three steps the B.C. government must take to protect the Flathead permanently, said Sierra Club BC in a recent press release.

On February 15, 2011, the B.C. premier’s office issued a statement that “the Province has signed an agreement to sustain environmental values in the Flathead Valley, and will introduce legislation to support the 2010 MOU on Environmental Protection, Climate Action and Energy with the State of Montana.”

“While the legislation is an important step, it does not equate to long-term conservation for the Flathead River Valley,” said Sierra Club BC spokesperson Sarah Cox. “It’s a complete stretch to say that the Flathead is forever protected.”

Continue reading . . .

Here’s the lead-in. Read the whole thing to see some familiar local names . . .

“We look forward to seeing the details of this agreement to halt inappropriate mining in the Canadian wilderness adjacent to the Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park, and anticipate the introduction of a substantive protective measure for the Flathead in B.C.’s legislature. We also recognize the leadership of Premier Gordon Campbell as he leaves office, in continuing to advance a 100-year-old vision to permanently protect one of the world’s most special places. It’s been more than a century since the first proposal to expand Waterton Lakes National Park into the BC Flathead, and we look forward to working with the incoming premier to complete this conservation legacy.

Continue reading . . .

What’s the North Fork connection?  Premier Campbell and Montana Governor Brian Schweitzer signed a Memorandum of Understanding last February banning mining and energy development throughout the trans-boundary Flathead Valley. Campbell’s resignation shouldn’t have any effect on the MOU, but will no doubt be a matter of concern in some quarters anyways.

The Flathead Beacon has a good vest-pocket summary of the situation. If you live on the U.S. side of the border, better read their article first or you’ll likely have no clue what “HST” means.

For greater detail, see the Vancouver Sun’s more extensive coverage.

A deal to permanently protect the North Fork of the Flathead could come soon, Montana Sen. Jon Tester said last week.

“Maybe as soon as September we could get an agreement that is binding,” Tester said in a conference call with reporters last Thursday.

Read the full article . . .

The North Fork of the Flathead River (a.k.a. the Transboundary Flathead) continues to play in the news of late. The news media report that Gov. Brian Schweitzer and Sens. Max Baucus and Jon Tester are at odds over how to best protect our river, Glacier Park and Flathead Lake from upstream industrial activity. While a bit confusing to the reader, we think it’s important to keep the North Fork in the news for one simple reason: Our fabulous North Fork ain’t protected yet.

Read the complete letter . . .

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.

Read the entire article . . .