Even as Congress and the president return to Washington and a political atmosphere that has many worried about the future of the environment, events in Montana illustrate the fact that diverse groups can quite literally find common ground in the national parks.
Home to more than 70 species of mammals and more than 260 species of birds, Glacier National Park comprises 1 million acres of forests, alpine meadows, and lakes. A hiker's paradise with 700 miles of trails, the park recently faced a number of threats from energy concerns looking to tap natural resources on its fringes. Although none of the initiatives would have breached the park's boundaries, all would have had negative effects on the scenery, animal and plant life, and the health of the waters within the park. And all have been turned back, so far.
"Glacier National Park is one the most high-integrity wilderness parks and natural resource parks in America," says Steve Thompson, senior program manager in NPCA's Glacier Office. "We have it all-grizzly bears and wolves, clean water and native trout, functioning floodplain ecosystems, and so on. The natural integrity of the land is high, but looking into the future, there are clouds on the horizon."
In October, the Bureau of Land Management decided not to open up the Rocky Mountain Front for oil and gas development. A Canadian company holds an option to drill on the 100 mile stretch of mountains, but the U.S. government just shelved a $1 million environmental assessment that would have been the first step toward drilling. The Bush administration took action after hearing from thousands of Americans, and in particular, hunters and anglers who believed the land was far too valuable to be drilled. Although President Bush knew he had Montana's electoral votes locked up, the issue garnered interest among hunters and anglers nationwide, including Pennsylvania, where the presidential race was much closer. Now that the election is over, Bush could move to develop the area, but his constituency seems to have done enough to settle the matter for some time. The hope is the government will eventually buy out the leases or offer the company an opportunity to drill in other, less sensitive areas; the issue will be revisited in 2007.
In the Badger-Two Medicine area, a Louisiana company had planned to drill for natural gas in some of the best grizzly bear habitat on the continent, just outside of Glacier, but the land is culturally significant to the Blackfeet Indian tribe. Plans had already been made to begin building roads to gain access to the national forest land, but an investigation unearthed an inadequate cultural inventory, which will delay the process for at least two years. For now, the drilling will be put off by a technicality, but the Blackfeet and other conservation groups are amassing political clout, and they hope that by the time one obstacle is removed, they'll be able to counter the next move to gain access as well.
If it weren't difficult enough fighting to preserve the sanctity of land outside the park's boundaries, imagine how difficult it is to stage that fight outside the country's boundaries. Initiatives to drill for coal-bed methane in the Canadian headwaters of Glacier had been moving forward, but a coalition of groups in the United States and Canada voiced their concerns over the effect on water quality, native trout, and grizzly bears that go in and out of the park. When the groups couldn't persuade the government to put an end to the initiative, they went directly to the oil and gas companies involved, and asked them not to bid on the
drilling rights being auctioned off. NPCA and other groups worked with local citizens to explain the importance of the land, the cost and difficulty involved in mining the land, and the potential public relations nightmare; to the surprise of some observers, not one of the companies bid on the property. Another auction in the future might prompt more interest, but for now the land is safe, another international incident staved off by local people.
And that's the best way to effect change, says Thompson: "Whether it's the local chambers of commerce, or the Blackfeet Indian nation, hunters and anglers, or weekend hikers, ultimately it's the local concerns and the local people standing up to protect the park." |
