Okay, great.
I had hoped to present a brief overview today of some of the history, but also some recommendations in terms of disbursement of the Dominion Coal Blocks. Very briefly, the coal blocks do lie in a critical wildlife corridor between the two world heritage sites of Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park and our Rocky Mountain system that includes Banff. Because this area is seen as so critical to wildlife, and as a global opportunity to maintain wildlife populations in the Rocky Mountain system in the face of climate change, we feel that any disbursement of these particular lands is critically important. It is important that there be particular covenants placed on these lands.
Those concerns grow out of three specific areas that we've been looking at. The first one was the fact that the UNESCO mission of 2009 was very clear about the importance of this area and the need to minimize barriers to wildlife connectivity in that zone.
As well, it called for a moratorium on mining developments in the corridor. That was followed up in 2011 by the Flathead Watershed Area Conservation Act, which was legislated in British Columbia to ban mines, oil, and gas within the Flathead River. I note the federal government's announcement supported that and suggested that, should there be lands in the Dominion Coal Blocks sold, the areas within the Flathead would maintain that ban on development.
Thirdly, on the Species at Risk Act, which presently applies to those lands, we are very concerned that this application to federal lands be carried over to any change in the status. I think the other piece of important background is the Ktunaxa Nation, of course, is engaged in treaty negotiations with the Government of Canada and the Government of British Columbia at the present time. There's a responsibility to consult and reach accommodation with the Ktunaxa Nation before moving forward with changes.
Our suggestions in regard to any disbursement of those lands are that these particular pieces of background information have to be taken into account and actually addressed when that sale takes place. Along those lines, we're suggesting there are several options, the first of which is perhaps a conservation covenant on any of the blocks that should be sold that would include the conditions of the no mining, oil, or gas development within the Flathead watershed. Also...to fully apply sections 32 and 33 of SARA, on no harming, killing, or harassing of listed species, as well as section 58, the protection of critical habitat.
The issue in the Elk Valley itself is a very, very significant one. That is around selenium loading in the river. The provincial government in the spring of this year mandated the Elk Valley water quality plan, which is presently just basically getting rolling. That plan has at the table the governments of Canada, British Columbia, the Ktunaxa Nation, the United States, and the State of Montana. At present, the mandate for that plan is to make sure that there is no further loading and, in fact, that we reduce and gradually bring the health of the Elk River back in place. It's our feeling that sale of these lands could definitely jeopardize that plan, should there not be very clear conditions around selenium and cadmium nitrate loading included in the plan.
With that, I'll leave that in the hope that through questions we can get maybe a little bit deeper into that. I'm very interested in the location of the lands in terms of their importance to wildlife, but also in terms of what they mean economically to the region.
Thank you.
