Environmental Groups Seek UN Designation to Expand Waterton-Glacier Into BC

By Guest Writer, 6-25-09

Although Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park already spans the Canadian-U.S. divide, Canadian and American environmental groups are hoping to cross another border, a provincial one, to fully protect the pristine wilderness.

And to do so, they’re taking the cause to the UN.

On June 27, representatives from a coalition of 11 groups in the United States and Canada will travel to Seville, Spain, to speak to the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. The groups will ask that the park, which includes Glacier National Park in Montana and Waterton Lakes National Park in Alberta, be designated a “World Heritage Site in Danger.”

The Waterton-Glacier alliance was the first international peace park when it was established in 1932 and is a UNESCO-designated World Heritage Site. But the petitioners say that proposed development across the Alberta border in British Columbia threatens the integrity of the park.

They want part of the pristine and uninhabited Flathead River valley, which is unprotected in British Columbia, designated a national park and incorporated into the peace park. The Flathead River is considered one of the wildest in North America and the valley boasts the highest density of inland Grizzly Bears on the continent.

“It’s a truly remote wilderness area,” said Sarah Cox, flathead campaigner for the Sierra Club B.C. The valley is unique, she said, “because wildlife has access to the whole valley.”

But while the federal government has pledged to implement a plan that would give the valley national park status, that designation has been resisted by the British Columbia provincial government.

Campaigners are asking for the southern third of the Canadian stretch of the valley to be turned into a national park, which would restrict any development and prohibit hunting. By not protecting the area, Cox said, the province is putting development ahead of protecting the area.

“We believe it needs to be a national park with the same high level of protection as Waterton Lakes,” Cox said.

“We decided to go to the UN Heritage Committee to alert them to the B.C. land use plan which has long been recognized as the missing piece in Waterton Glacier International Peace Park.”

The catalyst for the UN action is proposed industrial activity in the area, including a proposed mountaintop coal mine that would extract 40 million metric tons from the valley over 20 years and dump waste rock near a Flathead tributary.

And while industrial activity does require approval by a government agency, Cox said, that is not enough.

“This area requires permanent protection from all energy and mining proposals.”

UNESCO’s world heritage in danger list includes 30 sites from around the world, only one of which - Germany’s Dresden Elbe Valley - lies in a developed country. The petitioning groups hope the appearance before the UN will focus attention on the Flathead River.

Indeed, Cox said she is confident that whether or not the park is considered endangered, environmentalists are confident some level of protection is coming.

“We think there is a very strong possibility that we will get a no-staking reserve and that would be a first step.”

British Columbia recently re-elected its government for a third straight term, but with a new cabinet recently appointed, officials have not returned calls for comment.