B.C. bill would ban North Fork mining

A bill introduced in the British Columbia legislature last week would ban mining and oil and gas exploration in the Canadian Flathead, which is the North Fork of the Flathead River north of the border.

The Flathead Watershed Area Conservation Act, introduced by Steve Thomson, B.C.'s minister of forests lands and natural resource operations, codifies an earlier memorandum of understanding between B.C. and Montana to ban mining in the region.

The MOU, negotiated in 2010 by Gov. Brian Schweitzer and B.C. Premier Gordon Campbell, broke 30-plus years of differences between the two entities over mining in the drainage. B.C. mining interests through the years have proposed several mining and energy exploration projects in the drainage north of Glacier National Park.

The latest project was an open-pit coal mine proposed by Cline Mining Co. in the Foisey Creek drainage. Foisey Creek drains into the Canadian Flathead, which also forms the western boundary of Glacier National Park.

Unlike in the U.S., where the federal government controls most lands with mining claims, in British Columbia the provincial government owns most of the public land and has final say on most aspects of energy exploration. The province owns virtually all the land - called crown lands - in the Canadian Flathead.

Gov. Brian Schweitzer's office was following the news in B.C.

"Gov. Schweitzer takes pride in the relationships he has built in the neighboring provinces of Saskatchewan, Alberta and British Columbia," spokeswoman Sarah Elliott said. "We are aware the legislation has been introduced in British Columbia. The governor respects their process, and there have been continued contacts between our offices."

Montana Sens. Max Baucus and Jon Tester also have sponsored legislation that would ban future mining on federal lands on the U.S. side of the border. They have also been working on retiring existing leases in the watershed as well.

Over the past few years, companies have voluntarily retired more than 200,000 acres of oil and gas leases on the Flathead National Forest in the North Fork.

In addition, the Nature Conservancy of Montana and the Nature Conservancy of Canada are seeking to raise $10 million to compensate the province for expenses prior to the MOU being struck. Fundraising is expected to take three years, with the Montana portion being $5 million. To date, $6.5 million in total pledges and commitments has been raised.

"We've had an incredibly positive reaction to this campaign," said Bebe Crouse, director of communications for the Nature Conservancy of Montana. "It's all private funds."

The B.C. law is expected to pass, but some conservation groups in Canada claim more work needs to be done. They would like to see an expansion of Waterton Park from the Continental Divide to the North Fork.

"This legislation does not protect the Flathead from logging in a proposed national park, trophy hunting, new road access and quarrying," said Casey Brennan, Southern Rockies Program Manager for Wildsight, a Canadian environmental group. "Preventing mining and oil and gas development is a great first step, but real conservation is permanent protection as a national park and wildlife management area."