B.C. deal includes limits on gravel

Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer met with the Flathead County commissioners on Friday to ask them to support the recent agreement with British Columbia that bans mining and goal and gas development in the transboundary Flathead River drainage.

That show of support likely would come in the form of a text amendment to the North Fork Neighborhood Plan and Zoning District to limit gravel-mining operations and reflect provisions in the historic agreement signed by Schweitzer and British Columbia Premier Gordon Campbell.

“British Columbia is giving up a great deal and we’re gaining a great deal,” the governor told the commissioners. “We’ll share a destiny ... there are a lot of jurisdictions and a lot of moving parts to this.”

Schweitzer said Flathead and Lake counties are the among the biggest beneficiaries in the deal that bans mining and drilling in the drainage. The trade-off, he said, “is you get to have clean water forever.”

The memorandum of understanding does allow small quarries and sand and gravel operations, but limits them to a maximum size of two hectares or roughly five acres.

And production will be limited to 20,000 tons per year both on private and government land.

“All we can do at this point is start the process,” Commissioner Joe Brenneman said. “It’s not something we want to regulate from the top down.”

Since the transboundary agreement specifically refers to removing mining, oil and gas and coal development from the North Fork of the Flathead River Basin, the affected area essentially includes the North Fork Zoning District.

That district begins about two miles above Camas Road and continues to the Canadian border. It extends to U.S. Forest Service land to the west and Glacier National Park to the northeast.

The first step will be approaching the North Fork Land Use Advisory Committee about the best way to implement the provisions of the international agreement, Planning Director Jeff Harris said.

“As soon as possible we’d like to see how they want to approach the issue,” Harris said, adding that supporting the agreement could be as simple as adjusting zoning definitions.

Most of the land in the North Fork Zoning District is government-owned — the Forest Service owns 47 percent, the National Park Service has 47 percent, the state of Montana owns 3.5 percent, and just 2.7 percent, or 14,500 acres, is under private ownership.

Flathead County uses a Forest Service gravel pit up the North Fork to maintain the North Fork Road, Brenneman said. It’s his understanding that any existing gravel operations would be grandfathered and could remain the size they are.

Commissioner Dale Lauman said he has concerns about citizens who may have claims and permits for quarries.

Schweitzer noted that the agreement doesn’t mean they can’t operate quarries; it limits them to less than five acres.

“The premier and British Columbia are impressed with how the Flathead Basin has protected its water resources,” Schweitzer said. “They’ve shifted their position in a short time.”

For more than three decades Montana political leaders and environmental groups have resisted a series of proposed mining projects in the Canadian Flathead drainage. That made last week’s agreement “nothing short of astonishing,” Brenneman said.

Schweitzer credited the quiet diplomacy of British Columbia and hailed his chief policy adviser, Hal Harper, for his efforts in the sealing the deal.

The state owns about 30 sections of land in the North Fork drainage corridor. Schweitzer said the state has been quietly working on not renewing mineral leases and will put a moratorium on additional leasing.

Grazing, timber harvesting and fishing still will be allowed on state leases.

The Forest Service has close to 200,000 acres under lease in the North Fork. CENEX and Conoco/Phillips are among the biggest leaseholders. It’s still unknown how much it will cost to compensate leaseholders.

 Features editor Lynnette Hintze may be reached at 758-4421 or by e-mail at lhintze@dailyinterlake.com