They came, they saw and they retreated---to prepare a report that will help shape the future of BC's Flathead River Valley. In late September, two scientists from the United Nations World Heritage Committee toured the Flathead and adjacent Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park by air, 4-wheel drive and foot. Their mission? To determine if a proposed coal strip mine and other energy and mining development in BC's Flathead River Valley threaten the adjoining Waterton-Glacier World Heritage Site. Paul Dingwall, from New Zealand, and Kishore Rao, from France, also spent four days listening to presentations from government, industry and environmental groups--including Sierra Club BC and Wildsight--about conflicting plans for Canada's last unsettled low-elevation valley. The World Heritage Committee voted last June to send the mission after Sierra Club BC, Wildsight and nine other U.S. and Canadian conservation groups petitioned the committee to alert it to BC's land use plan for the Flathead. One... Read More