Protect Glacier National Park as a World Heritage Site
source: http://action.earthjustice.org/campaign/flathead_0609?rk=k7_EJHFqVqahE
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- JanforGore
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Pure water and pristine wilderness make Glacier National Park and its sister park in Canada, Waterton Lakes National Park, a unique place worthy of its designation as Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park, a UN World Heritage site and Biosphere Reserve. Grizzlies, wolves, wolverines, lynx and many threatened species depend on its pristine habitats. However, the park and its wildlife are threatened by mining and gas drilling in the Flathead River Valley adjacent to the park.
Our leaders need to know how you feel about this special place.
This month the World Heritage Committee of the United Nations will meet in Spain to rule on a petition submitted by 11 leading environmental groups in the U.S. and Canada. The petition urges the committee to add Waterton-Glacier to the list of World Heritage sites "In Danger."
One proposal under consideration by British Columbia's government is for an open pit coal mine less than 25 miles upstream from the park. More than 325 million tons of waste rock would be dumped into a tributary of the Flathead River that forms the western border of the park and provides critical habitat for threatened bull trout and genetically pure westslope cutthroat trout. Any leakage from the waste dumps would send toxic sludge into Waterton-Glacier within 24 hours.
Other mineral exploration is underway even closer to the park boundary. Proposed mining and drilling in the Canadian Flathead Valley would push threatened species closer to extinction by disrupting the seasonal migration of trout, eagles, falcons, moose and elk, and the dispersal of wide-ranging carnivores.
Take action: Tell decision-makers in Canada and the United States that mining and gas drilling do not belong upstream of Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park in the Flathead River Valley.
Our leaders need to know how you feel about this special place.
This month the World Heritage Committee of the United Nations will meet in Spain to rule on a petition submitted by 11 leading environmental groups in the U.S. and Canada. The petition urges the committee to add Waterton-Glacier to the list of World Heritage sites "In Danger."
One proposal under consideration by British Columbia's government is for an open pit coal mine less than 25 miles upstream from the park. More than 325 million tons of waste rock would be dumped into a tributary of the Flathead River that forms the western border of the park and provides critical habitat for threatened bull trout and genetically pure westslope cutthroat trout. Any leakage from the waste dumps would send toxic sludge into Waterton-Glacier within 24 hours.
Other mineral exploration is underway even closer to the park boundary. Proposed mining and drilling in the Canadian Flathead Valley would push threatened species closer to extinction by disrupting the seasonal migration of trout, eagles, falcons, moose and elk, and the dispersal of wide-ranging carnivores.
Take action: Tell decision-makers in Canada and the United States that mining and gas drilling do not belong upstream of Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park in the Flathead River Valley.
