Teck Resources announces $19m for conservation in B.C.’s Flathead River valley

SPARWOOD, B.C. – Mining giant Teck Resources (TSX:TCK.B) has announced the company will spend $19 million to buy thousands of hectares of land in southeast British Columbia for conservation.

The company says it purchased more than 7,000 hectares in the Elk and Flathead river valleys from Tembec Inc., not for mining but to preserve wildlife and fish habitat.

The purchase is being welcomed by conservation groups that have long advocated for a national park in the area of B.C. directly adjacent to the Waterton-Glacier park in Alberta and Glacier National Park in Montana.

The group Flathead Wild says the Teck purchase west of Sparwood, B.C., covers critical habitat for trout, bears, birds and lynx.

After a prolongued campaign that reached as high as the White House, the provincial government banned mining and drilling in the Flathead River basin two years ago over concerns for Glacier National Park south of the border.

Teck, which operates a lead and zinc smelter in Trail about 300 kilometres west of the land purchase, was found liable by a Washington state judge last year for the costs of cleaning up decades of pollution in the Columbia River.