Flathead Biodiversity

The core area of the Flathead contains one of the world’s great concentrations of biodiversity and presents a globally significant conservation opportunity.

The valley bottom and areas adjacent to the river along with the south-eastern third of the Flathead Valley in British Columbia easily ranks as one of the most biologically important places to protect on earth. This is because it is a free flowing river in the only uninhabited low elevation valley in the most biologically productive part of the Rockies. The Flathead serves as a critical link between the lower 48 US states’ carnivore populations and the large gene pool of Canada’s north. It is both a critical core area and corridor in the Yellowstone to Yukon region. It is also the missing piece of the world’s first international peace park, a World Heritage Site and Biosphere Reserve. Expansion of the Waterton-Glacier Peace Park into the Flathead valley would provide a protected core breeding area for wildlife in a part of British Columbia that has none. If this extraodinary opportunity is not worthy of a sustained conservation effort, nothing is.