U.N. officials to visit Glacier Park next week

Northwest Montana News Network

Two scientists from the United Nations will visit Glacier National Park and Canada the week of Sept. 21 to see for themselves the potential impacts of mining in the Canadian Flathead.

The delegates are expected to tour the area the first three days with scientists from Glacier National Park and the Flathead Lake Biological Station. Biological Station scientists have been monitoring water quality in the basin.

The rest of the week the scientists are expected to meet with Canadian officials.

The trip was brought about by a petition earlier this year to have Glacier listed as a World Heritage Site in Danger.

The proposed designation was spurred by U.S. and Canadian environmental groups who fear that proposed mining in the Canadian Flathead will ruin the water quality of the river, which becomes the North Fork of the Flathead in the United States and makes up the western boundary of Glacier Park.

But rather than list Glacier as in danger, U.N. officials decided to make a trip to the region and see the area - and the threats - for themselves.

For more of this story, see the print version of Monday's Inter Lake.