Waterton – Glacier In Danger is an unprotected Flathead in BC endangering a World Heritage Site?

Coalition petitioning for Glacier Park protections

By MICHAEL JAMISON of the Missoulian

WEST GLACIER - Glacier National Park and its neighbor to the north are endangered by mining proposals, and the international community must intervene to protect the region's natural and cultural heritage.

That's the message being delivered this week by tribal leaders, community organizers, business interests and conservationists, whose concerns will be aired at the 33rd annual meeting of the United Nations World Heritage Committee.

“Our petition,” said Will Hammerquist, “asks the World Heritage Committee to hear the concerns of local communities and indigenous peoples by recognizing the threat these projects pose to a globally significant ecosystem.”

Hammerquist works for the National Parks Conservation Association, which joined a dozen other groups in petitioning for the endangered status.

Glacier, along with adjacent Waterton Lakes National Park in Canada, was named a World Heritage Site in 1995, by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. At the time, UNESCO recognized the region for its “outstanding universal value.”

As two of the 157 signatories to the World Heritage treaty, Hammerquist said, both the United States and Canada accepted certain conservation obligations. But Canada has failed to meet those, he said, by moving ahead with controversial coal and coalbed methane energy development plans in southeastern British Columbia, on the borders of the parks.

Last year, NPCA joined a bi-national coalition representing a half-million Americans and Canadians, asking for a UNESCO review. Currently, only 30 World Heritage sites around the globe are listed as endangered. None is in North America.

In the past, however, endangered listings have helped to deter development on the edges of both Everglades and Yellowstone national parks.

The coalition, Hammerquist said, was somewhat surprised that UNESCO agreed to hear the petition, and he was even more surprised when he was selected to present it this week in Spain. Joining him will be Ryland Nelson, of the Canadian group Wildsight.

“We're honored that the World Heritage Committee has placed our concerns on the meeting agenda,” Nelson said. “Our petition puts forth a conclusive case that strip mines and coalbed mining in the headwaters of the Flathead River will harm the Waterton-Glacier Peace Park - a World Heritage site that Canadians are proud to share with the U.S.”

The men - who have long advocated for protections based on environmental grounds - also will carry an address from James Steele Jr., chairman of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes.

Steele, in his video presentation, stresses cultural reasons for protection, saying “the area is a traditional area for us, as tribes.”

In addition to providing fishing and hunting grounds, he said, the region remains “a very important area for cultural and religious reasons.”

Steele's reservation encompasses the southern half of Flathead Lake, where Canadian waters settle after flowing south into Montana, along Glacier Park's western edge.

Millions, Steele said, have been spent protecting water quality there, and the proposed mining puts that effort at risk.

“This,” he said, “is our homeland. ... We don't have another homeland. This is it.”

Hammerquist isn't expecting the World Heritage Committee to actually list Glacier-Waterton as endangered (only 30 of 880 worldwide are), but he hopes the international community will put political pressure on Canada to protect the region. A site visit from UNESCO would be welcomed, he said, as would some “positive guidance and recommendations.”

“The World Heritage Committee cannot stop British Columbia from mining in the Flathead,” Hammerquist said, but it can influence outcomes.

“This is an opportunity to present the concerns of local communities, first nations, and people who care about Waterton-Glacier and the Flathead River, to the global community.

The timing is good, he said, as the world watches for Glacier Park's 100th birthday and the arrival of the Vancouver Winter Olympics, both in 2010.

The Waterton-Glacier complex is the world's first international peace park, and is listed as a U.N. Biosphere Reserve. But for nearly three decades, Canadian wildlands west of Waterton have also been eyed for energy development, creating an ongoing international debate.

Most recently, Nelson said, a proposal has emerged from Cline Mining Corp., to remove an entire mountaintop, digging out 40 million tons of coal and depositing waste rock into Foisey Creek, a headwaters stream of the Flathead River.

Others are exploring for phosphate, gold and coalbed methane.

Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., often has been at the center of the discussion, and two years ago he requested a similar “endangered” listing.

“Senator Baucus and his staff have done great work,” Hammerquist said, “working with the State Department and Interior, moving this ball forward. We've had tremendous political support on this issue.”

Hammerquist and Nelson have established a new Web site, savewatertonglacier.com, and will be blogging from Spain throughout the weeklong meeting, in addition to posting pictures and video from the conference. It is, Nelson said, critical to generate international awareness, as the landscape has such international significance.

It is home to several endangered species, he said, and was recognized by National Geographic magazine as “one of the most diverse and ecologically intact natural ecosystems in the temperate zones of the world.” Canadian Geographic described it as “a nursery, incubating wildlife that disperses and repopulates neighboring habitats.”

It is home, Nelson said, to the highest density of grizzly bears in the interior of North America.

“The current land use plan for the Canadian portion of the Flathead Valley prioritizes mining and energy extraction over all other uses,” he said. “Until British Columbia changes the land-use plan for the Canadian Flathead Valley, the Waterton-Glacier World Heritage site will be in danger.”

As will those who live below.

The mine, tribal chairman Steele said in his address, will certainly produce pollutants. Those pollutants, in turn, “will definitely go downstream. And we're downstream.”

SOURCE: http://www.missoulian.com/articles/2009/06/22/news/local/news03.txt