A Wilderness Win for the Flathead River Valley

Conservation wins are few and far between. The advocacy, research and campaign work that go into protecting a place are often years in the making, sometimes decades. So when a win does arise, here at The Big Wild, we like to celebrate to our heart’s content and right now the Flathead River Valley is what’s in my heart.

It’s been a remarkable year for the Flathead. The first of three steps toward total protection of this wild space was achieved just a few weeks ago when British Columbia’s provincial government awarded the “Flathead Watershed Conservation Act” the Royal Assent. This means coal mining and methane gas extraction are now forbidden in the Flathead River Valley. What incredible news! So what’s next? Plenty of hard work as we advocate for the creation of a National Park combined with a Wildlife Management Area that connects the Flathead to Canada’s Rocky Mountains.

The Flathead River Valley, located in the southeastern corner of BC, has long been on The Big Wild radar. Bringing the Flathead on board as a feature campaign meant an opportunity to work more in depth with organizations like Wildsight, the Sierra Club of BC, the Yellowstone to Yukon Conservation Initiative and, one of our founding partners, the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society.

As the saying goes “the battle may be won but the war is not over.” Only in the case of the Flathead we don’t see it as a conservation war but, rather, an opportunity for leaders, governments, and citizens alike to unite and protect one of the continent’s last intact wilderness corridors.

If you feel passionate about Canada’s outdoors and want to help preserve wild, open spaces across the country visit TheBigWild.org. Meantime honour and enjoy these magnificent shots of the Flathead.

Garth Lenz, Joe Riis and Justin Black are members of the International League of Conservation Photographers who participated in a RAVE or Rapid Assessment Visual Expedition of the Flathead River Valley in 2009. These three photographers and the iLCP have allowed The Big Wild to use their photographs for our Flathead campaign.

Continental Divide: Waterton Lakes National Park, Alberta, just beside the Flathead River Valley, B.C. Photo courtesy Garth Lenz, iLCP

The Flathead has the highest diversity of flowering plants in Canada. Photo courtesy Garth Lenz, iLCP

A few of the ridgetops in the Flathead are protected as a BC provincial park, but the Valley bottoms are not. Photo courtesy Garth Lenz, iLCP

A goat and her kid in the Flathead River Valley. Photo courtesy Joe Riis, iLCP

The team on the first day of the iLCP Flathead RAVE in 2009. Photo courtesy Justin Black, iLCP