From the Thursday, January 3, 2008 edition of The Tyee, an online daily based in British Columbia. This is part two of two. The first part (see below) deals with resource extraction threats to the Canadian Flathead . . .

The section of the Rocky Mountains that straddles the Canada-U.S. border has long been recognized as a region of outstanding biological diversity, often referred to as the Crown of the Continent ecosystem. But few British Columbians realize that their province owns a share of this treasure in the form of the little-known Flathead Valley.

In recognition of the Crown of the Continent’s natural beauty and abundant wildlife, Waterton Lakes National Park was established in Alberta’s southern Rockies in 1895. Fifteen years later, the Americans created Glacier National Park next door in northern Montana. In 1932, the two parks were honoured as the world’s first international peace park.

In 1995, UNESCO designated Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park a World Heritage Site. But it noted that the adjoining section of British Columbia’s Flathead Valley was “a missing element,” and recommended that the site boundaries eventually be expanded to include it.

This was not a new idea. Waterton’s first superintendent, John George “Kootenai” Brown, wrote in 1911: “It seems advisable to greatly enlarge this park . . . it might be well to have a preserve and breeding grounds in conjunction with the United States Glacier Park.” Others also espoused this idea throughout the following decades, all without success.

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This excellent article on resource extraction threats to the Canadian Flathead appeared in the Wednesday, January 2, 2008 edition of The Tyee, an online daily based in British Columbia. This is part one of two. The second deals with efforts to establish the Flathead as a national park . . .

Bruce McLellan has caught more than 150 grizzlies in the Flathead Valley in the past 29 years, some more than once, but he still vividly remembers his first capture.

“We got really excited when we drove in and could see this big bear… bouncing around,” McLellan recalls. Then alarm set in — the tree that had anchored the snare was gone. “He’d gnawed it down!”

Luckily, the cable remained attached to the stump and the young biologist soon had the 290-kilogram bear tranquillized and radio-collared. It was the start of what’s become one of the world’s longest-running, most in-depth studies of this species.

Since 1978, McLellan — now a provincial Ministry of Forests senior wildlife habitat ecologist and University of British Columbia adjunct professor — hasn’t missed a year in the Flathead. His research shows that this 1,575-square-kilometre watershed in British Columbia’s southeast corner has the highest documented density of grizzlies in inland North America: 65 to 80 for every 1,000 square kilometres. Only salmon-fed coastal grizzlies occur at higher densities.

“What’s special about the Flathead,” McLellan says, “is that it’s a big, wide valley with no people living in it, so the bears can use the whole valley bottom and do what bears do when there’s no people around. That’s what makes it unique, more than the density.

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From the Thursday, January 3, 2008 online edition of the Hungry Horse News . . .

About $886,000 in funding was secured by U.S. Sens. Max Baucus and Jon Tester to fully study the environmental impact of proposed mines in the Canadian Flathead.

There are several proposals for mining the region. Cline Mining Corp. has plans for a mine that would basically take the top off a mountain in the Foisey Creek drainage, a tributary in the North Fork’s headwaters. British Petroleum has a project for coal bed methane extraction in Crowsnest Coal Field. That field drains into the North Fork as well. There have also been proposals for phosphate mining much closer to Glacier Park’s northern boundary.

This funding will create baseline data of the region as it now exists. Scientists will be looking at water quality, aquatic insect life, fisheries and large mammals, including grizzly bears and other carnivore species.

“The potential for environmental catastrophe in Southeast British Columbia is really high,” Richard Hauer of the Flathead Lake Biological Station said.

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From the Sunday, December 23, 2007 online edition of the Missoulian . . .

A Canadian scientist has concluded coal mine development north of Glacier National Park would spell migratory trouble for the big mammals that seasonally move through the region.

Researcher John Weaver presented his findings at a meeting last week in Kalispell.

“What really has become clear is the need to protect the Flathead for large and mid-sized carnivores,” responded Rich Moy. “Many of these species need secure habitat areas for survival and conductivity zones for moving from place to place across the border.”

Moy is chief of the state’s Water Management Bureau and chairs the Flathead Basin Commission, a multi-agency group convened 25 years ago by the state to monitor and protect the Flathead’s water quality.

Since its inception, the group has been concerned about possible upstream energy development and has opposed Canadian proposals to extract coal and coalbed methane from southeastern British Columbia.

On Thursday, they heard from Weaver, a scientist for the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society, and Moy called the presentation “very important and compelling.”

Weaver, considered an internationally renowned wildlife biologist, has for years been studying the Canadian Flathead, just north of Glacier Park. The river drainage spills south across the border, forming the park’s western boundary before flowing into Flathead Lake.

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From the Thursday, December 20, 2007 online edition of the Hungry Horse News . . .

Limit subdivision scope and size. Preserve open space. Control commercial development on both land and water.

Those are just a few of the facets of the North Fork Neighborhood Plan — a revised draft that’s slated to go before the Flathead County Planning Board next month.

The plan has been in the works for about three years, though in recent months has gone through at least one draft. But the document also does a big dance around whether or not to pave the North Fork Road. It calls for dust abatement, but doesn’t say one way or the other whether the road should be paved.

That was intentional, county planner Andrew Hagemeier said.

Residents decided the North Fork paving issue “should be addressed outside the scope of this plan,” he noted.

Whether to pave or not pave the dirty, rutted, dusty road has been a divisive issue for decades for North Forkers. The road aside, the plan touches on several key aspects of the North Fork community, but primarily acts as a watchdog for a way life.

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