Salazar supports North Fork protection

Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar on Monday pledged his support for a long-term solution that would protect the Flathead River from mining threats.

Invited by Sens. Max Baucus and Jon Tester, Salazar visited the Flathead and had a press conference at Blankenship, visiting with scientists, Glacier Park officials and businesspeople whose livelihood depends on the clean waters of the rivers.

Salazar told reporters afterward that he envisioned an "international covenant between the U.S. and Canada that will protect the Flathead Basin."

He said he didn't know specifics, but he said he was hopeful an agreement could be worked out and that an effort had the support of the Obama administration.

He also cautioned, however, that it was not an easy issue to resolve — if it had been, it wouldn't be an ongoing dispute for more than three decades.

Over the years mining interests in British Columbia have attempted to develop mines in the drainage and each time state and federal interests on this side of the border have battled back. The latest threat might come from gold exploration in the region 'see related story).

Baucus has been trying to gain protection for the North Fork for decades.

He said there's a "moral imperative" to "leave this place in as good as shape or better shape than we found it."

Tester agreed, noting there are appropriate places for mining and coal bed methane extraction, but the North Fork, which makes up the entire western boundary of the Park, is not an appropriate place.

Tester said his colleagues in the Senate ask him why he comes home to Montana every week.

"Take a look," he said as he stood next to the river. "It's a pretty easy answer."

SALAZAR ALSO noted that the river was an "economic engine for America," because of the visitors it draws. Glacier sees some 2 million visitors a year and the state as a whole sees 10 million. They don't come to view polluted streams.

Baucus, too, envisioned some sort of an agreement between the two countries where mining restrictions would be placed on the Flathead drainage.

Glacier Superintendent Chas Cartwright said he's only been on the job a year, but already "this place is in my heart," and that it was important to keep the conversation going.

"There's opportunities right now to do something about it," he said.

Scientist Ric Hauer of the Flathead Lake Biological Station has been studying the watershed for decades. He told Salazar that a coal mine in the headwaters of the Flathead would increase nitrogen levels a 1,000 fold in the river or current levels. He also noted that the headwaters are one of the last strongholds for endangered bull trout.

Recently the United Nations decided to send scientists to the area to see the river and potential threats themselves. Those scientists are expected to arrive in late September.

Salazar's visit has heightened the awareness of the issue and conservationists are more hopeful than they were a few years ago that permanent protections can be hashed out.

John Bergenske, executive director of the Canadian conservation group Wildsight, said the international attention has been critical in raising awareness and he noted a politician that once tried to shout Baucus down at a meeting in Fernie a few years ago recently ran on a platform that opposed mining in the Flathead.

Hauer said the scientific evidence would prove the river is worth protecting.

"We've got to press the science to the finish line," he said.