Flathead Valley

The Flathead River flows from southeast B.C. along the western flank of the Rockies and the Alberta border south into Montana and finally Montana's Flathead Lake. The Flathead Valley contains perhaps the greatest terrestrial and aquatic diversity in British Columbia. In Montana the river is largely protected but in B.C. it is unprotected and a number of industrial projects have been proposed for the valley which has already suffered a number of industrial developments. Like the the neighbouring Elk River and Valley, whose toxic pollutants from mountaintop removal coal mining are being felt downstream in Montana, the impacts from industrial development on the B.C. side of the Flathead River, are also being felt downstream in Montana where the river is protected.