As a citizen of Canada and a lifelong resident of Fernie (the closest B.C. community to the proposed park) I would thank the international coalition of retired park superintendents who came together to voice their support for expanding Waterton Lakes National Park into the southeastern one-third of the British Columbian Flathead (Dec. 29 Beacon: “Former Superintendent Call for Increased Protection of Glacier, Waterton Parks”).
This vision was first articulated by John “Kootenai” Brown, Waterton’s first superintendent, in 1911 when he wrote that, “it seems advisable to greatly enlarge this park . . . to have a preserve and breeding ground in conjunction with the United States’ Glacier Park.”
One-hundred years later this vision still enjoys strong support among local British Columbians. In fact, two independent polls conducted in the past two years have found that more than 60 percent of the residents of the East Kootenay region of British Columbia support the expansion of Waterton into the B.C. Flathead to match Glacier.
Ryland Nelson
Fernie, British Columbia