| Abstract/Description or Keywords |
The Federal funding for this project was provided through the National Park Service with facilitation from the Rocky Mountains Cooperative Ecosystems Study Unit to conduct a study of river water quality, sediment quality and deposition response, and aquatic life use in the “Transboundary Flathead River” of southeastern British Columbia, Canada and western Montana, USA in southeastern British Columbia. The goal of the study was to focus on potential environmental effects of proposed coal mining in the Canadian portion of the Flathead River Basin. There have been various proposals since the early 1970’s to mine coal in the Canadian portion of the Transboundary Flathead River Basin. Most recently, in the mid-__2000’s a proposal was made to conduct an open-__pit, mountain-__top coal mining operation in the Foisey Creek watershed that flows into the headwater regions of the Transboundary Flathead River. To many this seemed to be a very natural progression of expanded coal mining from the East Kootenai Coal Fields of the Elk River Basin to the north of the Transboundary Flathead River Basin where there has been coal mining for over 100 years and open-__pit, mountain-__top removal mining for the past 40+ years. To many, expansion of coal mining into the Transboundary Flathead River Basin was seen as a threat to high water quality, aquatic life from the base of the food web to the fishes, and to the quality of habitats for both fisheries and wildlife that move across the international boundary of the USA and Canada. This was of particularly high concern to the management and administration of Glacier National Park, which receives Flathead River waters as they cross the Canada – USA boundary, citizens of the Flathead Valley in Montana, and the land owners around Flathead Lake. We organized the studies around an experimental design among tributary stream and river sites in the Transboundary Flathead Basin above the proposed mine and site below the proposed mine. In contrast, the Elk Basin tributary stream and river sites were organized as above all mining and sites below existing mines. We found nitrate and total nitrogen concentrations were significantly elevated (1000X) at sites downstream of existing coal mining in the Elk Basin compared to what was observed either among all Flathead Basin sites or samples from Elk Basin sites above coal mines. Sulfate concentrations were also significantly elevated (40-__50X) in Elk Basin sites below coal mining. This is likely due to exposure of sulfide and/or sulfate bearing ores that are oxidized when exposed to the atmosphere during the mining process.Similarly to sulfate, selenium concentrations were elevated to 7-__10X above naturally occurring levels observed among Flathead Basin streams and rivers sites and Elk Basin sites above the coal mining. We had a comprehensive design to look for metal effects in sediments transported from the coal mines. We observed elevated concentrations of cadmium in Corbin Creek and in Michel Creek below Corbin, but we did not observe increased metal concentrations at sites either in the Flathead Basin or among sites in the Elk Basin above the coal mines. Algae and macroinvertebrates are excellent indicators of nutrient and toxin pollution. There are two common effects; first is referred to as a nutrient subsidy effect, in which the productivity of algae is increased due to higher concentrations of nutrients, such as nitrogen. This, in turn, leads to increased secondary production of aquatic insects. The second is a pollution stress effect causing a decrease in biodiversity as sensitive species decline and are replaced by tolerant species. Stream invertebrates are very highly diverse in unpolluted rivers and streams of the Waterton-__Glacier International Peace Park. We found significant impact to both the algae and macroinvertebrate communities in tributary streams below mining in the Elk River Basin. In Summer 2009, the National Parks onservation Association and other environmental NGO’s petitioned UNESCO to consider investigating the threat of proposed coal mining in the Transboundary Flathead River Basin to the ecological integrity of Waterton-_Glacier International Peace Park as a World Heritage Site. The UNESCO investigative mission team visited the Transboundary Flathead in both the USA and Canada in September 2009. In 2010, UNESCO reported, “…………..it is the considered view of the mission team that should open pit coal mining and coal bed methane gas production proceed in the upper Canadian Flathead watershed, this would present a serious threat, incompatible with the Outstanding Universal Value of the Waterton-__Glacier International Peace Park World Heritage property. Of particular concern are the likely degradation and irretrievable losses. There is, in the view of the mission, no possibility of proceeding with mining in the Flathead watershed without creating an unacceptable direct impact on the Outstanding Universal Value of the property, and there does not appear to be a compromise position in this regard.” On February 9, 2010, at the Opening of the Second Session of the Thirty-__Ninth Parliament of the Province of British Columbia, the Honorable Steven L. Point, OBC Lieutenant-__Governor made the following declaration, “A new partnership with Montana will sustain the environmental values in the Flathead River Basin in a manner consistent with current forestry, recreation, guide outfitting and trapping uses. It will identify permissible land uses and establish new collaborative approaches to trans-__boundary issues. Mining, oil and gas development and coal bed gas extraction will not be permitted in British Columbia's Flathead Valley.” Since 2010, our continued research during the later portion of this study was modified with agreement with Glacier National Park Resource Personnel toward development of a comprehensive conservation plan integrating Transboundary Flathead aquatic habitat conservation and conservation of fish and wildlife habitat and corridors. We are continuing this research within the framework of the Transboundary Flathead and the Crown of the Continent Ecosystem and the initiatives of the US Fish and Wildlife Service Great Northern Landscape Conservation Cooperative. The aims of our GNLCC-__framed research is to build on an existing climate change and Transboundary research program to assess the potential hydrologic, geomorphic, and effects on food webs (rare and endemic macroinvertebrates), native salmonids (threatened bull trout and westslope cutthroat trout), and lotic habitats in the Transboundary (US and Canada) Flathead River system. The project will apply new and existing technologies for combining downscaled and regionalized climate models linked with specific spatial data, fine-__scale aquatic species vulnerability assessments (invertebrates_fish), population genetic data, and remotely sensed riparian and aquatic habitat analysis. This information will be used to begin development of an aquatics adaptation plan. |
