Conservancy to pay B.C. province

Finally, the specter of mining in the North Fork of the Flathead looks like it’s over.

Gov. Brian Schweitzer announced Monday the Nature Conservancy of Montana and the Nature Conservancy of Canada have agreed to compensate mining companies that held claims in the Canada Flathead for expenses they incurred during their exploration.

Nearly a year ago to the day, the province and the state of Montana signed a memorandum of understanding that banned mining and oil and gas exploration in the watershed.

But a missing piece of the agreement was compensating the companies that had already completed significant amounts of exploration and development of mines in Canada. Now, the conservancies will begin a campaign to raise about $9.4 million over the next three years to pay off those exploration expenses to British Columbia. The province, in turn, will compensate the companies.

Schweitzer and his staff have been working on this deal for years and he said it was a matter close to his heart.

“This is one of the most pristine places on earth,” he said.

After the MOU was signed last year, Schweitzer asked several federal agencies to come up with the funds — then estimated at nearly $17 million — to pay off the mining companies. But to no avail.

“We’re not asking the federal government for anything,” Schweitzer said. He said the lower current payout came after the mining companies submitted invoices to the province.

Discussions with the conservancies began about eight months ago and came to fruition in December, he said.

“This is a great day for the people in both the Montana and Canadian Flathead,” Schweitzer said. “This has been a long time coming and this announcement finally seals the deal. I have to thank Premier Campbell who has done the heavy lifting. Years ago he gave me his personal commitment to work with us to protect the Flathead, and he has stuck to it through thick and thin.”

The province, state and both nations have bickered about mining in the Flathead for at least 30 years. The North Fork makes up the western boundary of Glacier National Park and expert biologists said mining the region would have a detrimental affect on the watershed and landscape. The area is largely undeveloped and is one of the most intact ecosystems in the lower 48 states, home to several endangered or threatened species, including bull trout, lynx, wolverines and grizzly bears.

To the conservancies, Schweitzer had a simple message.

“I just say thank you,” he said.

Kat Imhoff, director of the Montana Nature Conservancy, said a campaign to raise the funds would begin immediately. The Conservancy has made a broad and expansive effort to keep the “Crown of the Continent” ecosystem intact in recent years. The non-profit group is still raising funds to complete a gigantic land deal in the Swan Valley, called the Montana Legacy Project. That plan protects forests in the area owned by Plum Creek from subdivision and development. Spanning more than 300,000 acres, the project is the largest private land conservation deal in U.S. history.

Imhoff said it could take less than three years to raise the necessary funds for the North Fork deal.

Both Montana Sens. Jon Tester and Max Baucus said they supported Schweitzer’s efforts.