These photos show the Flathead River area that is the subject of a conservation deal struck between B.C. and Montana, February 18, 2010.Casey Brennan
Several B.C. environmental groups hope a new World Heritage Committee report will lead to better protection for a unique southeastern B.C. region.
Eleven groups, including Wildsight and the Sierra Club of B.C., say the report on the Flathead River Valley and adjoining Waterton-Glacier World Heritage Site in Alberta will be released Friday at a committee meeting in Brazil.
The report comes in the wake of concerns about mining and clear cut logging in the Flathead River Valley on the doorstep of the World Heritage site, straddling the border between Alberta and Montana.
Conservationists were pleased earlier this year when the province and state agreed to ban mining and energy development in the Flathead.
But the groups are worried by the lack of a binding federal deal for the valley and adjoining areas, since either B.C. or Montana can back out of the original pact.
Wildsight spokesman Casey Brennan says the Flathead desperately needs a trans-boundary wildlife management plan because it is an exceptional wildlife nursery with the highest density of inland grizzly bears in North America.