Category Archives: Environmental Issues

Flathead tops list of BC’s most endangered rivers

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The Outdoor Recreation Council of British Columbia (ORBC) started publishing a list of the most endangered rivers in the province in 2006. This year, the Flathead River is in the #1 spot, as it was in 2007, mostly because of the proposed Cline Coal Mine. An excerpt from today’s press release . . .

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.

Senate again passes wilderness bill

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From the Thursday, March 19, 2009 online edition of the Flathead Beacon . . .

For the second time this year, the Senate has passed a long-delayed bill to set aside more than 2 million acres in nine states as protected wilderness, from a California mountain range to a forest in Virginia.

The 77-20 vote on Thursday sends the bill to the House, where final legislative approval could come as early as next week.

Read the entire article . . .

Glacier Park’s uncertain future

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This week’s Hungry Horse News has a pretty good overview of the threats faced by Glacier National Park over the next few decades . . .

In 1916 President Woodrow Wilson signed the “Organic Act” which created the National Park Service. In that bill, it said the Service has a purpose “to conserve the scenery and the natural and historic objects and the wild life therein and to provide for the enjoyment of the same in such manner and by such means as will leave them unimpaired for the enjoyment of future generations.”

In Glacier National Park, that mantra is becoming harder and harder to accomplish, admits Jack Potter, as the Park is besieged by both internal and external threats, most of which are not of its own making.

Read the entire article . . .

Wolf delisting back on track

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The Saturday, March 7, 2009 issue of the Daily Inter Lake has a pretty good overview of the current plan to remove gray wolves from the list of threatened and endangered species . . .

There had been uncertainty about how the Obama administration would proceed, but Interior Secretary Ken Salazar announced Friday the decision to remove gray wolves from the list of threatened and endangered species.

The delisting proposed by Salazar mirrors a move by the Bush administration in January that was suspended in order for the new administration to review. It will apply to wolves in the western Great Lakes region and in Montana and Idaho, but not in Wyoming.

Read the entire article . . .

Group wants wilderness bill for Montana

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From the Friday, March 6, 2009 online edition of the Daily Inter Lake . . .

Retired Forest Service brass and other prominent Montana citizens called on Montana’s congressional delegation Thursday to press for the establishment of additional wilderness areas in the state.

The group said it believes that 26 years is too long since any land in the state has been permanently protected as wilderness. During that same period, more than 439 wilderness areas have been designated in other states.

“We believe that what Montana’s wildlands need now, more than ever, is leadership in Washington from Montana’s delegation,” the group said in a letter to Sens. Max Baucus and Jon Tester and Rep. Denny Rehberg.

Read the entire article . . .

Salazar OKs Wolf Removal From Endangered List

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From the Friday, March 6, 2009 online edition of the Flathead Beacon . . .

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said Friday he was upholding a decision by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to remove gray wolves in the Northern Rockies and the western Great Lakes from the federal endangered list.

Salazar said wolves would remain a protected species in Wyoming because its law and management plans were not strong enough. But management of the predator will be turned over to state agencies in Montana and Idaho and parts of Washington, Oregon and Utah, in addition to the Great Lakes states of Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin.

Read the entire article . . .

County needs dust program partners

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As promised, Flathead County has set some money aside for a sort-of dust abatement co-pay plan. Trouble is, there aren’t many takers so far. The deadline is March 27th.

From the March 4, 2009 online edition of the Daily Inter Lake . . .

Residents who want to tap into Flathead County’s cost-sharing dust abatement program this summer may want to heed an age-old adage: Speak now or forever hold your peace.

The deadline to sign up for the first-time program is March 27, and to date the county has had little response from rural residents, Public Works Director Dave Prunty said Monday.

Read the entire article . . .

State may get $2 million riverfront property

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From the Wednesday, February 4, 2009 online edition of the Daily Inter Lake . . .

Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks is closing in on two waterfront land acquisitions with Bonneville Power Administration funding.

A 245-acre parcel of undeveloped land along Foy’s Bend on the Flathead River south of Kalispell is being purchased for just more than $2 million, plus a 53-acre parcel along Hay Creek in the North Fork Flathead River drainage is being purchased for about $400,000.

Environmental reviews for both projects were amended to clarify terms of conservation easements that will be held on both properties by BPA.

Read the entire article . . .

Bennett fires back with haughty e-mail

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Here’s a curiousity. Just a year ago, Bill Bennett, British Columbia’s mining minister, was forced to resign due to some wildly intemperate remarks regarding opposition to resource development in the Canadian Flathead. Bennett, now Tourism, Culture and Arts Minister, is at it again. This time, he was responding to a Fernie area tourism operator accusing Bennett of being more interested in coalbed methane development than tourism.

From the Thursday, February 5, 2009 online edition of 24 Hours Vancouver . . .

Tourism, Culture and Arts Minister Bill Bennett has described a tourism operator in his riding as having “bigoted” and “ignorant” opinions – accusing Steve Kuijt of writing a “vicious and mean-spirited” e-mail, which “may well be libelous.”

Read the entire article . . .

Groups renew call to expand Waterton into B. C. river valley

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From the Saturday, January 31, 2009 online edition of the Calgary Herald . . .

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 . . .