Two governments unite to sustain Flathead
By Nelson Daily Staff
The Province has signed an agreement to sustain environmental values in the Flathead Valley, and will introduce legislation to support the 2010 Memorandum of Understanding on Environmental Protection, Climate Action and Energy with the State of Montana.
Efforts in the United States retired existing oil and gas leases in the Montana North Fork Flathead Basin, and introduced legislation to prohibit any future mining, oil and gas leases consistent with the MOU.
The Flathead River Valley in southeast B.C. adjoins the Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park. The Flathead River is one of North America’s last wild rivers, and the area supports a variety of carnivores and a diverse collection of plants and fish.
Under the Agreement on the Protection of the Transboundary Flathead Watershed Area, the Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC) and The Nature Conservancy (TNC) in the United States will contribute $9.4 million to implement the environmental protection provisions of the MOU, including compensation for current coal and mineral tenure holders for their past exploration.
With grants made possible by the Nature Conservancy of Canada through the government of Canada’s Natural Areas Conservation Program, and The Nature Conservancy in the U.S., the agreement supports the permanent removal of mining, oil and gas, and coal exploration and development provided for by the B.C.-Montana MOU.
British Columbia has agreed to maintain its high conservation standards to protect the bio-diversity of the Flathead Valley and other sustainable natural resource uses. The B.C. Flathead Watershed Area has been managed for logging, recreation, guiding and outfitting, and trapping for over 70 years.
The conservation agreement
Under the Agreement on the Protection of the Transboundary Flathead Watershed Area, the Nature Conservancy of Canada and The Nature Conservancy will contribute $9.4 million to implement the environmental protection provisions of the MOU between British Columbia and Montana, including, but not limited to the cost of addressing existing mineral, oil and gas, and coal tenures.
As part of the agreement, the Province undertakes to implement the MOU as a framework for future co-operation in the transboundary Flathead, including:
• Introduce a bill to legislate the legal and regulatory measures the Province took in February 2010 to prohibit the exploration for and development of mining, oil and gas, and coal in the B.C. Flathead Watershed Area.
• Actively seek to participate and partner with other governmental and appropriate non-governmental participants in Canada and the United States to address climate change and other stressors to wildlife species and habitats in an integrated fashion within the Northern Rockies and Columbia Basin, including the Transboundary Flathead Watershed Area.
• Keep in place provisions for conservation and sustainable management in the B.C. Flathead Watershed Area, consistent with the Province’s Southern Rocky Mountain Management Plan.
• Subject to funding from others, accelerate planned development of Wildlife Habitat Area designations in the B.C. Flathead Watershed Area for Gillett’s Checkerspot, bull trout, cutthroat trout, badger, bighorn sheep, western screech-owl and Williamson’s sapsucker before December 2014.
To view the 2010 B.C.-Montana MOU, go to: http://www.mediaroom.gov.bc.ca/Download.axd?objectId=721
