Between two national parks lies a corridor rich in wildlife - but also in fossil fuels. Will protection follow now that the gas extraction drillers want to move in?

It has been called one of North America's wildest places. Just north of the US-Canada border, the wooded slopes of the Canadian Rockies channel unpolluted water into a valley that remains free of human development. Grizzly bears, cougars and wolverines prowl the banks of the Flathead river. Outside of a national park, there is probably no wilderness like it on the continent.

When John Stockner talks about water, people listen.

Dr. Stockner, now retired from the Department of Fisheries and Oceans, is one of Canada's most eminent scientists in the field of limnology, the study of lakes and other fresh water.

More than 30 years ago, he did groundbreaking research that allowed DFO to boost sockeye productivity by fertilizing nutrient-starved lakes in British Columbia.

Dr. Stockner was among a small group of scientists who first realized that the harvesting of adult salmon on the West Coast was robbing lakes and rivers of annual injections of marine nutrients.

Instead of decomposing after spawning and thereby releasing phosphorous and other valuable nutrients into the water, the bodies of the salmon were going off to market.

Southern Albertans who treasure the unspoiled qualities of Waterton Lakes National Park may believe the park’s World Heritage Site status serves to protect it from environmental plunder.

But that may not be true if a strip mine and a coalbed methane project both eyed for the Flathead Valley in southeastern B.C. — spitting distance from Lethbridge — are allowed by the B.C. government.

The United Nations has begun an investigation in the wake of outcries from area environmentalists (the matter has even been raised in the U.S. presidential race, with Barack Obama weighing in earlier this month) and could end up listing Waterton-Glacier as a World Heritage Site In Danger.

Oil and gas development in Wyoming has been planned in a "piecemeal" fashion thus far, sometimes on a well-by-well basis, biologists and conservationists argued Friday.

Future, more responsible development calls for a much broader, science-based approach, they said.

Day two of the Responsible Energy Development Symposium, spearheaded by Trout Unlimited, featured presentations and discussions on reducing harm to wildlife and other natural resources, and reclaiming wild habitat during and after drilling and extraction is through.

The three-day gathering at Jackson Lake Lodge has drawn more than 180 participants so far. It concludes today with an all-day field trip to the Jonah and Pinedale Anticline natural gas fields in the Upper Green River Valley.

Study suggests plan poses risk to three major salmon streams at once, could cause extensive damage to environment

MARK HUME
MAY 15, 2008

A new report released by the Pembina Institute raises fears about the possible impact of coal-bed methane extraction on three major salmon rivers in northwestern British Columbia.

The institute says commercial coal-bed methane development has never taken place in a salmon watershed before, and it describes as "an irresponsible experiment" a provincial plan allowing Shell Canada Ltd. into the headwaters of the Stikine, Skeena and Nass rivers.

BP's 2007 Environmental Baseline Assessment Studies for the Mist Mountain Coalbed Gas Project are now available online at http://www.bp.com/mistmountain

BP is hosting 2 drop-in sessions where local residents can speak with the reports authors. Stop by to have your questions answered and to let them know your opinion of the environmental assessment and the Mist Mountain Coalbed Gas project.

The first session is in Fernie on Wednesday April 16, 2-6pm at 302B 2nd Ave (CONCERNED CITIZENS ARE RALLYING AT THE OFFICE FROM AFTER 4:30 WITH FAREWELL BP SIGNS)

The second session is in Sparwood on Thursday April 17, 2-6pm at #201-120 Centennial Square

Written feedback can be sent to the project email at mistmountain@bp.com