On a clear, cold day in late October, Paul Berntsen stands on the wooden foundation of a yurt he built himself, watching as his dreams of a non-motorized tourist destination in the Skagit River headwaters go up in flames.

In the valley below, slash piles from recent clearcut logging on East Point Mountain are being burned by forestry company contractors, sending great plumes of smoke into the sky. Through the haze, a vast clear-cut is visible on the flanks of the mountain, which is carved into blocks by a network of new logging roads.

“This is the headwaters of the Skagit River,” he says, pointing to the towering Silverdaisy peak, a mountain immediately adjacent to the clear-cuts, which now provide the backdrop view for his yurt. “It’s going to take decades for this to green up again.”

Berntsen has brought me and photographer Fernando Lessa on a backcountry mountain bike ride into the heart of the Skagit headwaters, about 200 kilometres east of Vancouver. Even assisted by electric batteries, biking to the yurt is a tough slog — we gain more than 850 metres of elevation, riding through a fresh 25-centimetre dump of snow in the upper elevations.

Author Chris Pollon rides an electric bike in the Manning Park ‘Doughnut Hole.’ Slash piles from recent clearcut logging on East Point Mountain are being burned by forestry company contractors, sending great plumes of smoke into the sky. Photo: Fernando Lessa / The Narwhal

Piles of discarded wood are burned near East Point Mountain by forestry contractors. Photo: Fernando Lessa / The Narwhal

The Skagit headwaters are located in an area known as the Doughnut Hole, an anomaly of unprotected Crown land about half the size of the city of Vancouver, completely encircled by Manning and Skagit Provincial parks. 

The headwaters were never protected, in part because they are home to a cluster of old mineral tenures, currently owned by Imperial Metals, the company that owns the Mount Polley mine — the site of one of Canada’s worst mining disasters in 2014. 

A clearcut on a slope of East Point Mountain. Photo: Fernando Lessa / The Narwhal

The headwaters are also home to intact old-growth forests with struggling grizzly bear and recently extirpated spotted owl populations, including two pristine, unlogged tributary valleys.

Berntsen is in his early 60s, but retains the wiry stature of a backcountry mountain skier and guide. For 30 years he made a good living guiding wealthy tourists on heli-skiing expeditions all over British Columbia and the world, but what he really wanted to do was to establish his own non-motorized wilderness business here in the headwaters, using the yurt as a base camp for low-impact backcountry ski and hiking tours. 

As a logger in his youth, he witnessed the great surge of smash-and-grab logging across southwestern British Columbia, which saw nearby drainages like the Chilliwack, Harrison and Chehalis trashed and cleared of old-growth trees. But from early on, he knew where he wanted to be.

“I grew up in these mountains,” says Berntsen, who lives nearby in the Fraser Valley community of Mission. “I wanted to find a place that wasn’t totally damaged, and this was that place.”

Paul Bertensen. Photo: Fernando Lessa / The Narwhal

Bertensen, left, and author Chris Pollon in Manning Park. Photo: Fernando Lessa / The Narwhal

Berntsen’s application to establish a backcountry business in the Doughnut Hole was rejected earlier this year by the province — a decision he is appealing. 

Yet other activities have been permitted. Clear-cut logging commenced in the Doughnut Hole in 2004, followed by another flurry of logging in 2018, which included construction of a road network subsidized by BC Timber Sales, a publicly owned body that markets timber on Crown land. 

When the snow gets too deep, we abandon our bikes and hike for about two kilometres to an abandoned Imperial Metals exploration camp. It was allegedly vandalized and burnt to the ground in the early 2000s, but we find a 2,300-kilogram propane tank more than half-full, sitting in the middle of the site. Even under the blanket of snow, it’s clear the detritus of the camp has never been cleaned up.

Bertensen examines a propane tank left behind at an Imperial Metals exploration site. Photo: Fernando Lessa / The Narwhal

A weathered shack housing multiple drill samples at an abandoned Imperial Metals exploration camp. Photo: Fernando Lessa / The Narwhal

Drill samples from Imperial Metals. Photo: Fernando Lessa / The Narwhal

We hightail it down the mountain as the sun starts to creep behind a peak to the west, wary that the lower logging roads will completely freeze over in the chill. When we reach the highway, our access to the road is blocked by a transport truck hauling heavy excavation machinery. 

The driver tells us they are going to be decommissioning logging roads in the headwaters, where BC Timber Sales had permitted logging into 2022. 

Map showing the location of the ‘Doughnut Hole’ between Skagit Valley and Manning provincial parks. The Doughnut Hole lies within the headwaters of the Skagit River. Map: Carol Linnitt / The Narwhal

Logging to end in the Skagit as mining permits linger

On Dec. 3, about a month after our visit, the B.C. government announced it will end commercial logging in the Skagit headwaters, also called the Silverdaisy management area. 

“We’ve heard loud and clear from individuals and groups on both sides of the border that logging should stop in the Silverdaisy,” said Doug Donaldson, Minister of Forests, Lands, Natural Resource Operations and Rural Development. 

It was a victory for a vast cross-border coalition of at least 110 tribes, First Nations, environmental groups and many U.S. politicians, but celebrations were muted. That’s because Imperial Metals continues to hold the Doughnut Hole mineral tenures. The company has applied for a five-year permit that, if approved by the B.C. government, will see the building of an access road, surface trenches, drill pads and exploratory pits up to 2,000 metres deep.

To many, the potential for mineral exploration and mining is a cloud hanging over not only the future of the headwaters, but the entire Skagit River. The fact that the company in question is Vancouver-based Imperial Metals — whose Mount Polley copper and gold mine spilled 25 billion litres of mine waste and sludge into salmon-rich Quesnel Lake in 2014 — does not inspire confidence amongst the critics.

“If toxins from mining enter the headwaters, it could be detrimental for our entire way of life, cultural, economic, everything,” Joseph Williams, an elected senator of the Swinomish Indian Tribal Community, said the day following the logging announcement. 

Williams was standing in the United States when he made the statement, on the banks of Swinomish Channel close to where the Skagit River drains into Puget Sound, about 135 kilometres southwest of the Doughnut Hole.

Elected Senator Joseph Williams of the Swinomish Indian Tribal Community. Photo: Fernando Lessa / The Narwhal

Senator Joseph Williams from the Swinomish. Photo: Fernando Lessa / The Narwhal

The Skagit River. Photo: Fernando Lessa / The Narwhal

Even though the Skagit River begins in British Columbia, most of its 240 kilometres meander through Washington State, where it is the last river in the lower 48 to support all six species of Pacific salmon, including steelhead. To the Swinomish, salmon are everything.

Michelle Mungall, B.C.’s Minister of Energy, Mines and Petroleum Resources, could kill the Imperial Metals permit with a stroke of a pen. But the government has maintained the permit will be evaluated without political interference — and will live or die based on its merits.

A ministry spokesman told The Narwhal the permit is still being reviewed. “First Nations consultation is ongoing,” the spokesperson wrote in an email.

As Williams attests, the decision has the power to affect the entire river system, but the headwaters are just a tiny part of the Skagit story. On the same day the B.C. government announced it would end logging, The Narwhal crossed over the border to the U.S. to see the lower Skagit for ourselves.

Over the next three days, we followed the river from the Cascades mountains in northern Washington state to Puget Sound tidewater — to understand what is at stake for our American neighbours if mining becomes a reality in the British Columbia headwaters.

Skagit River at night. Photo: Fernando Lessa / The Narwhal

‘The border is this imaginary line’

It’s tempting to think of the Skagit River, especially the picturesque upper watershed where few people live, as pristine, but that would be a mistake. Joy Foy, who has led the efforts on the Canadian side to protect the headwaters, likens the Doughnut Hole itself to a “pin cushion” because it has been drilled and explored so much by prospectors, including many Americans.

Before the headwaters were cut off by the border, the Skagit River was shared by many First Nations, including the modern-day Sto:lo, Syilx and Nlaka’pamux up around the headwaters. To the south were the descendants of the modern day Upper Skagit and four tribes of the Swinomish Indian Tribal Community. For 50 years after the War of 1812, settler cultures also moved freely through this area, especially prospectors in search of riches.

“The border is this imaginary line,” Foy says. “It’s in our minds, but the land and water is the reality.” 

Unbeknownst to most Canadians, three hydro-electric dams were constructed on the U.S. side of the upper Skagit in the early 1960s, submerging the Canada-U.S. border and creating three reservoir lakes below the B.C. headwaters. These dams have converted the U.S. Skagit into a river whose flows are no longer determined by glacial melt, rainfall or freshet, but by the need to generate electricity for the city of Seattle.

The Diablo Dam was constructed in 1936 and continues to provide electricity to Seattle. Photo: Fernando Lessa / The Narwhal

The Diablo Dam, close to the village of Diablo,near Washington Pass, is one of three hydro dams on the upper Skagit River. Photo: Fernando Lessa / The Narwhal

A legacy of dam building was ushered in with the signing of the High Ross Treaty in 1984 between the City of Seattle and British Columbia, entrusting four commissioners from each country to resolve disputes over the dams and maintain the environmental integrity of the shared Skagit River. 

This body, called the Skagit Environmental Endowment Commission, has tried unsuccessfully for decades to buy Doughnut Hole mining tenures. U.S. Commissioner Thomas Curley declined to provide details when The Narwhal asked for an update on the status of negotiations with Imperial Metals to purchase the claims.

Salmon-hungry eagles attract tourists

The Skagit passes through the dams, then winds through North Cascades National Park and the Mount Baker Snoqualmie National Forest, then the valley expands and widens out across a rich agricultural “salad bowl” hinterland, famous for vegetables and tulips.

A December drive along the upper portions of the North Cascades Highway, which traces the river from the dams all the way to Skagit Bay in Puget Sound, is both beautiful and desolate. The parks and small towns like Newhalem and Concrete swell with visitors during the summer months, but when the winter rains fall — 2.5 metres of annual rain is not unusual here — they clear out. 

Tourism slows to a trickle during this time of year, but the Skagit River is the reason it never completely stops.

We meet Judy Hemenway, a retired visual artist who is the coordinator of the Skagit Bald Eagle Interpretive Center, housed in a double-wide trailer in Howard Miller Steelhead Park near Rockport. Runs of chum and coho salmon attract eagles, which in turn draw about 3,000 tourists to the interpretive centre every year. Events for the Skagit Eagle Festival in nearby towns will bring at least 5,000 visitors through the end of January.

Judy Hemenway, a retired visual artist who coordinates the Skagit Bald Eagle Interpretive Center. Photo: Fernando Lessa / The Narwhal

The festival continues to grow, Hemenway tells us, even as the number of eagles they see — mirroring the declines in salmon on the river — drop. The highest count in a single day was 500 in the late ’90s. Last year, the counts were as low as 70 per day.

Yet the Skagit still supports the largest populations of threatened steelhead and Chinook salmon in Puget Sound and hosts the largest run of chum salmon left in the lower 48. 

Despite the low returns, about a dozen fly fishermen arrive while we are here, staying in little cabins in the park; multiple boat tour operators are a regular sight, taking tourists out to photograph the eagles.

A bald eagle claw on display at the interpretive centre. Photo: Fernando Lessa / The Narwhal

Hemenway stands on the banks of the Skagit River. Photo: Fernando Lessa / The Narwhal

A male Coho salmon in Clarks Creek, Washington. Photo: Fernando Lessa / The Narwhal

Hemenway tells me about the recent plan by multi-national company Kiewit Infrastructure to build a rock mine and quarry about one kilometre from the Skagit banks near Marblemount. “Everybody wrote letters. We told them, ‘salmon don’t lay eggs in silt, they lay eggs in gravel.’ ”

She says the project crumbled after regulators required an Environmental Impact Statement.

Environmental advocates on the U.S. side have taken the same strategy with Imperial Metals. Seattle City Light, the city-owned power company, and the Swinomish tribes formally requested that the B.C. environment ministry require a formal environmental assessment for proposed exploration in the headwaters. 

On Dec. 10, Kevin Jardine, associate deputy minister for the B.C. environment ministry, rejected calls for an assessment. 

“I am not satisfied that the exploration program has the potential for significant adverse environmental, economic, social, heritage or health effects,” Jardine wrote, “ … nor am I of the view that an [environmental assessment] would be in the public interest … ”

Old-growth forest in the Skagit River area. Photo: Fernando Lessa / The Narwhal

The last ‘truly wild’ stretch of the Skagit

We meet John Scurlock at his cabin home near the confluence of the muddy Sauk River and the Skagit, not far upstream from Concrete, Washington. 

The Sauk is the last big, free-flowing tributary of the upper Skagit (even the Baker and Cascade river tributaries have dams), which turns the clear main stem cloudy with glacial silt carried from way up in the Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest.

A former mountain climber, Scurlock is a renowned alpine photographer who takes dramatic photographs from a plane he built himself. Today, though, he’s promised to take us on a hike to see what he considers the last “truly wild” stretch of the entire Skagit mainstem in Washington State.

John Scurlock. Photo: Fernando Lessa / The Narwhal

The Skagit River. Photo: Fernando Lessa / The Narwhal

We hike for about 30 minutes along the old Great Northern Railway right of way, which is being reclaimed by a jungle of alder, cottonwood and Himalayan blackberry. (It rains so much here that the trees keep their long-flowing beards of algae and lichen year-round). Cougars, black bears, barred owls and elk are all regular visitors along this stretch of lush riparian zone.

“The Skagit was a wild river, one of the greatest we had before the dams were built,” Scurlock says. “There used to be 70-pound kings [Chinook] on this river.”

We emerge from the jungle to a stretch of river wild on both sides, with the Eldorado mountains rising into the clouds to the east. Eagle cries fill the air, so loud they interrupt our conversation. 

“They’re our national buzzard,” he laughs.

Scurlock is concerned that mining in the headwaters could replicate the transboundary fiasco on the Columbia River. 

The remains of a spawned-out salmon on the sandy bank of the Skagit River. The metal cord is a remnant of former logging activities in the area. Photo: Fernando Lessa / The Narwhal

Scurlock looks out at the Skagit River. Eldorado Peak is visible in the background. Photo: Fernando Lessa / The Narwhal

“You don’t want what happened with Roosevelt Lake,” he says, in reference to the U.S. Colville Confederated Tribes’ 20-year fight in court against Canadian mining giant Teck, which polluted the lake and downstream Columbia River with toxic waste from its lead-zinc smelter on the Canadian side of the border.

He sees a way forward, similar to what happened with a big American mining company called Kennecott. In 2010, Scurlock tells us, the U.S. Forest Service took control of more than 150 hectares of the enormous Glacier Peak Wilderness in the North Cascades, where copper giant Kennecott wanted to build a huge open-pit copper mine in the Skagit drainage. 

“[Change] will require the will of people in British Columbia. What’s the value of the Skagit up there? That’s what people have to ask themselves.”

Kennecott abandoned the plan amid fierce opposition, including from Washington Senator Henry Jackson.

Regardless of opposition in Washington State, getting to that point with the Skagit will depend on Canadians and not Americans, Scurlock says. “[Change] will require the will of people in British Columbia. What’s the value of the Skagit up there? That’s what people have to ask themselves.”

Even sprawling mega malls need the Skagit

The city of Burlington is only about 45 kilometres downstream from Concrete, but it may as well be in another country. Our chain motel is located close to a huge bend in the Skagit, but you would never know the river is there. 

The core of this city sprawls out for miles upon miles of big box chains and low rise “drive-through” retail. The Skagit may be invisible, but even here, the river is all important. That’s because almost half of the water consumed by 70,000 people in the communities of Burlington, Mount Vernon and Sedro Wooley, is piped directly from the Skagit. The other half comes from four streams that rise up into the Cultus Mountain watershed near Mount Vernon.

Kevin Tate, community relations manager for the Skagit Public Utility District, says when the stream flows dip below a certain point — usually during the summer months — the utility takes water from the Skagit, which tends to have higher flows in the summer thanks to snow melt coming off the Cascades.

Kevin Tate, community relations manager for the Skagit Public Utility District. Photo: Fernando Lessa / The Narwhal

A water drain in Burlington is a reminder of the Skagit River flowing under the city’s concrete infrastructure. Photo: Fernando Lessa / The Narwhal

Meanwhile, 15,000 people in the nearby community of Anacortes rely on the Skagit River for 100 per cent of their water — as do the nearby Shell and Marathon oil refineries, two major employers in the region.

Tate says they are not aware of a detectable impact from logging in the headwaters in terms of silt or turbidity but confirms they are watching the situation in British Columbia closely. 

“Our water quality has won awards every year in Washington State for the last 18 years,” he says proudly. “There’s very little turbidity.”

Just outside Concrete, we meet up with Tom Uniak of Washington Wild, an environmental group focused on lands and water across Washington State that is a leading U.S. voice on the headwaters issue. 

Standing over six feet and seven inches tall, Uniak is a shrewd, uncompromising organizer who has brought together many of the U.S. politicians, businesses, environmentalists and tribes that oppose headwaters development.

Tom Uniak. Photo: Fernando Lessa / The Narwhal

With him are Lynn Best, chief environmental officer for Seattle City Light, and environmental policy manager Kate Engel, who shares her time between the power company and staff duties at the Skagit Environmental Endowment Fund.

The trio is happy about the logging announcement, but wary about potential mining.

“The claims should be cancelled or bought — they should be extinguished — and that land put back in the park where it should be,” says Best, who was in the room when the High Ross Treaty was signed in 1984. 

Best puts numbers to what is at stake with the Skagit. Seattle City Light alone has spent more than US$77 million on the river since the dams were constructed, while the state’s investment for ongoing salmon recovery is at least US$90 million to date.

Seattle City Light chief environmental officer, Lynn Best, left, and environmental policy manager, Kate Engel, right, on the Skagit. Both Best and Engel are concerned about the potential impacts of mining in the headwaters of the river. Photo: Fernando Lessa / The Narwhal

The Skagit River just outside of Concrete, Washington. Engle told The Narwhal the river’s quality is carefully monitored. Photo: Fernando Lessa / The Narwhal

Multiple groups, including the federal government, actively monitor baseline water quality on the Skagit, Engel says. “We know that this is a system with high-quality water on the U.S. side. If that changes, we will know.”

In response to questions about potential mining, Uniak says people south of the border can’t afford to say “ ‘oh, this is just exploratory drilling,’ because guess what? You give them an [exploration] permit and then maybe they find what they want, and all of a sudden, you’re half-way to dealing with a real mine.”

The goal, he says, is to “protect what we have left.” 

Nations call for Skagit headwaters protection

Just downstream of Mount Vernon, the Skagit River breaks into two forks that drain into Puget Sound. We follow the north stream to the four-hectare reserve of the Swinomish Indian Tribal Community on the southeastern side of Fidalgo Island. 

Where the Skagit meets the sea, the entire delta, including the reserve on Skagit Bay, forms a globally significant nursery and refuge for migrating shorebirds, song birds, raptors and rare wintering waterfowl like trumpeter and tundra swans.

Until recently, the Swinomish Tribe — the union of four Coast Salish tribes — thrived on a year-round bounty of Pacific salmon. Williams is an elected leader responsible for business enterprises worth many millions of dollars — including a nearby casino, golf course, multiple gas stations and cannabis business — but he never stopped being a fisherman.

Skagit estuary close to the Swinomish First Nation Reserve. Photo: Fernando Lessa / The Narwhal

Standing on the banks of the Swinomish Channel where his grandfather once fished for chum salmon, he says the Swinomish are netting about one per cent of their historical catch on the Skagit system. The threat of damage to the headwaters, exacerbating the already fragile state of most salmon returns, has prompted them to join voices with Washington Wild, Seattle City Light, other U.S. tribes and Canadian First Nations opposing mining exploration in the Doughnut Hole. 

“The First Nations up there are our families too, a ton of my family is still up [in British Columbia],” he says. “The lines that were drawn in the sand by these two countries split our families in half.”

Senator Williams from the Swinomish stands along the Skagit estuary. Photo: Fernando Lessa / The Narwhal

In a show of cross-border solidarity earlier this year, the Swinomish and Upper Skagit tribes of Washington State joined with Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs and called on the B.C. government to reject Imperial Metals’ exploration permit for the headwaters.

“We are sovereign tribal nations who have stewarded the lands and waters of the Skagit River area since time immemorial, and along with our brothers and sisters at the Tulalip Tribes, the Nooksack Indian Tribe and the Lummi Tribe, we ask you to stand with us and urge B.C. Premier [John] Horgan to deny the permit for exploratory mining in the Doughnut Hole of the Skagit River Headwaters,” they said.

The announcement harkens back to a time, not so long ago, when the Canada-U.S. border did not exist, and it was understood that whatever happens in the headwaters touches everyone living downstream.

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Gold and copper mining in the unprotected area sandwiched between Manning and Skagit Valley Provincial Parks, known as the Skagit Doughnut Hole, would threaten wildlife, water quality and Indigenous communities in the U.S. and Canada, says an international coalition calling on the B.C. government to reject an exploration application by Imperial Metals.

The coalition of more than 110 conservation, recreation and wildlife groups, local politicians, businesses and Indigenous communities from both sides of the border has launched an advertising campaign calling on the B.C. government to turn down the application for a five-year exploration permit with five surface trenches, drill pads and “mother holes” of 2,000 metres, with directional drilling.

Conservation groups are deeply concerned about the possibility of mining in the sensitive 6,000-hectare area — home to numerous endangered species and key to the recovery of species such as grizzly bear, northern spotted owl and bull trout.

Advertisements placed by an international coalition fighting against mining the Skagit Headwaters. Left: The Province. Right: Vancouver Sun.

They also point to Imperial Metals’ dubious track record in the province. The company was responsible for the 2014 Mount Polley disaster, which saw the catastrophic collapse of a tailings dam at a copper and gold mine in central B.C., sending 25 billion litres of mine waste and sludge into nearby waterways.

An investigation found the dam collapse was caused by a badly designed dam whose construction failed to account for glacial silt under the pond. But no fines have been levied or charges laid and the mine waste continues to pollute Quesnel Lake.

Joy Foy, co-executive director of the Wilderness Committee, said the company responsible for the largest tailings dam failure in Canadian history should not be allowed near the Skagit Doughnut Hole.

“It would be hard to imagine a worse place for a mine than the Skagit Headwaters or a mine company with a worse record to be involved than Imperial Metals,” Foy said.

“It would be hard to imagine a worse place for a mine than the Skagit Headwaters or a mine company with a worse record to be involved than Imperial Metals.”

In 1996 Skagit Valley was given a provincial park designation, merging the area with Manning Park, but the middle was left out because of mineral claims that have existed since the 1930s. Most of the claims are held by Imperial Metals.

The Skagit River flows from B.C. through Washington State and the North Cascades National Park and into Puget Sound. It supports the largest populations of threatened steelhead and Chinook salmon in the Puget Sound.

“It’s a huge concern when it comes to water and fish impacts,” Washington Wild executive director Tom Uniack told The Narwhal.

“This is an international watershed and the Skagit flows south through Washington State and contributes one-third of the fresh water into Puget Sound. It has a huge, huge impact on our salmon and increasingly on the endangered orcas that rely on those salmon populations,” Uniack said.

In 1984, Canada and Seattle City Light, a publicly owned electricity utility, came to an agreement known as the High Ross Treaty. They formed the Skagit Environmental Endowment Commission, with four members appointed by Seattle and four by B.C., with a mandate to conserve and protect the wilderness area in the watershed and to acquire mineral and timber rights in the Upper Skagit Watershed “consistent with conservation and recreational purposes.”

Ken Farquharson, a former Canadian commissioner of the Skagit Environmental Endowment Commission, with a map of active and inactive mines from B.C.’s Ministry of Energy and Mines. Photo: Taylor Roades / The Narwhal

Last year, despite that treaty, B.C. Timber Sales — an agency within the provincial ministry of forests, lands and natural resource operations — quietly approved logging in the Doughnut Hole without alerting the commission, which brought a sharp rebuke from Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan.

Durkan, who is calling for B.C. to abide by the treaty, said in a statement in April that mining would “harm the integrity of a watershed that is critical to millions of people in Seattle and our region.”

Uniack said there are many concerns about B.C.’s actions, pointing out that mining companies on both sides of the border  benefit from outdated laws. The long-term solution is to purchase the mineral and timber rights for the area, he said.

“The key thing to know here is the B.C. government can deny this [the application],” he said.

B.C.’s mining regulations came under fire last week from all eight senators from Alaska, Montana, Washington and Idaho. The senators wrote to Premier John Horgan saying contamination from B.C. mines is threatening U.S. businesses, citizens and resources.

U.S. senators to Horgan: clean up B.C.’s mining mess

The senators want binding international protections to ensure B.C.’s mining laws match U.S. legislation.

First Nations in B.C. and tribes in the U.S. are among those calling for B.C. to reject the Imperial Metals application. Amy Trainer of the Swinomish Indian Tribal Community said the community’s way of life could be threatened by mining in the watershed.

“The Swinomish Tribes are adamantly opposed to any new mining in the headwaters. We depend on salmon for ceremonial, subsistence, spiritual and commercial activities and Imperial Metals gold mining would threaten those activities. That’s the tribes’ way of life,” she told The Narwhal.

“We want the B.C. government to protect the integrity of the whole Skagit River ecosystem that includes our cultural resources,” Trainer said, adding that mining and logging in the area does not reflect the spirit of the High Ross Treaty.

Brian Cladoosby, chair of the Swinomish Indian Tribal Community, said wild salmon are the central pillars of treaty-protected rights.

“Mining in the Skagit River headwaters is antithetical to salmon recovery and our way of life,” he said.

A small lake at the source of Silverdaisy Creek in the area known as the Doughnut Hole in the Skagit headwaters. Photo: Wilderness Committee

The mining proposal is equally unpopular on the B.C. side of the border. Grand Chief Stewart Phillip, president of the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs, is calling on the provincial government to uphold the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

“The proposed mining in the Skagit headwaters poses a significant and devastating threat to our inherent Indigenous title and rights and the fish, wildlife and natural and cultural resources on which our existence is based,” Phillip said.

B.C.’s ‘archaic’ mining laws urgently need update: 30 groups

The provincial decision on whether to approve the exploration permit will be made within B.C. ministry of energy and mines.

A ministry spokesman said public consultation ended last month, but First Nations consultations are continuing and it is not known how long it will take the non-political, ministry decision-maker, to assess the information.

The Narwhal’s reporters are telling environment stories you won’t read about anywhere else. Stay in the loop by signing up for our free weekly dose of independent journalism.

It’s a strange arrangement: surrounded on all sides by provincial parkland, B.C.’s notorious ‘Doughnut Hole’ is a sensitive, unprotected pocket of land the size of Manhattan.

It’s also the location Imperial Metals is eyeing for a major new mine.

The B.C. mining company responsible for the Mount Polley disaster applied late last year for a five-year exploration permit for the area located between the Skagit Valley and E.C. Manning provincial parks and next to the headwaters of the Skagit River, Washington State’s prime chinook salmon river.

The application, which comes on the heels of a controversial decision by Crown corporation BC Timber Sales to allow clearcut logging last year in the Doughnut Hole, has incensed conservation and community groups on both sides of the border, which are accusing the province of breaking the 1984 High Ross Treaty between Canada and the U.S.

‘Not Imperial Metals. Not these headwaters.’

The treaty also forged the Skagit Environmental Endowment Commission, a watchdog group jointly funded by B.C. and Seattle’s public utility and designed to protect the integrity of the watershed.

Leo Bodensteiner, U.S. co-chair of the commission and professor of environmental science at Western Washington University, told The Narwhal he fears B.C. is not living up to its responsibility to protect the Skagit from development.

“There should not be a mine in the headwaters of the Skagit River and there should not be a mine by this company in the headwaters of any river,” Bodensteiner said.

“The actor in this case is Imperial Metals and, if you are familiar with the Mount Polley disaster, you know they are bad actors,” he said.

The Mount Polley copper and gold mine, northeast of Williams Lake, was the site of the 2014 catastrophic collapse of a tailings dam, which sent 25-billion litres of mine waste and sludge into nearby waterways.

An investigation found the collapse was caused by a badly designed dam with construction failing to account for glacial silt under the pond, but no fines have been levied or charges laid and mine waste is continuing to pollute Quesnel Lake.

Bodensteiner was part of a delegation of commissioners that met recently with Doug Donaldson, B.C.’s minister of forests, and separately with Michelle Mungall, B.C.’s minister of mines.  

Donaldson told the delegation he would halt logging plans and look at decommissioning logging roads and restoring the area within the next two years, Bodensteiner said.

The ministry confirmed to The Narwhal that “all future logging plans are currently on hold.”

But many are left to wonder whether the hold is permanent or temporary.

The meeting with Mungall left the group less optimistic, Bodensteiner said, noting the Imperial Metals application is now being sent out for public comment.

Map showing the location of the ‘Doughnut Hole’ between Skagit Valley and Manning provincial parks. The Doughnut Hole lies within the headwaters of the Skagit River. Map: Carol Linnitt / The Narwhal

The strange history of the Doughnut Hole

The history, leading to the unprotected area in the middle of provincial parkland, is complicated.

In 1996 Skagit Valley was given a provincial park designation, merging the area with Manning Park, but, smack in the middle, a 6,000-hectare parcel — which became known as the Doughnut Hole — was left out because of mineral claims that have existed since the 1930s and most of which are held by Imperial Metals.

A small mountain lake, the source for the Silverdaisy Creek, is located just below the Smitheram-Silverdaisy pass in the Doughnut Hole. Photo: Wilderness Committee

The Skagit River flows from B.C., through Washington State to Puget Sound and is home to endangered bulltrout, in addition to salmon. Hydro dams on the lower reaches of the Skagit provide Seattle with much of its electricity.

The Skagit Environmental Endowment Commission has four members appointed by Seattle and four by B.C. with a mandate to conserve and protect the wilderness area in the watershed and to acquire mineral and timber rights in the Upper Skagit Watershed “consistent with conservation and recreational purposes.”

The High Ross Treaty came into being because of a public outcry in 1942 after Seattle negotiated an agreement with B.C. to raise the Ross Dam by 36 metres, which would have flooded more than 5,000 acres of prime B.C. wildlife habitat and recreational land.

The crux of the 1984 treaty, which ended decades of negotiations, is an agreement by Seattle City Light (the city’s publicly owned electricity utility) not to raise Ross Dam until 2065, in exchange for Canada providing cheap hydropower.

Doughnut Hole development ‘inconsistent with the spirit’ of the treaty: Seattle mayor

Despite the treaty, late last year B.C. quietly approved logging in the Doughnut Hole without alerting the commission.

The move brought a sharp rebuke from Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan, who wrote to Premier John Horgan saying she was gravely concerned that fish in Washington state could be threatened and that the logging was “inconsistent with the spirit and intent” of the High Ross Treaty.

Durkan has now renewed her call to B.C. to abide by the treaty, saying in a statement that mining “would harm the integrity of a watershed that is critical to millions of people in Seattle and our region.”

In an emailed statement to The Narwhal, B.C.’s ministry of mines said senior officials are meeting regularly with their Seattle counterparts and members of the joint commission to “share information and understand their concerns.”

“The premier has also spoken with the mayor of Seattle and expressed B.C.’s interest in continuing to support an open and collaborative working relationship between the two jurisdictions,” the email said.

The ministry also told The Narwhal Imperial Metals’ application is being sent out for consultation and feedback from ministries and other agencies.

A public comment period is expected for early May, prior to a decision being made by an independent statutory decision maker.

In its application Imperial Metals noted it has not contacted First Nations, but a ministry spokesman said the province will be consulting “potentially affected First Nations.”

Imperial Metals, which did not return calls from The Narwhal, plans to use roads built during last year’s logging for access and has applied for a five-year exploration permit, with five surface trenches, drill pads and one or two “mother holes” of 2,000 metres, with “daughter holes” drilled directionally off the deep holes.

A detailed map of logging and mining areas in the Doughnut Hole area. Map: Carol Linnitt / The Narwhal

“The cuttings from the drill will be collected in a settling pond and the water recycled or a newly designed water recycling machine will be used to remove the cuttings for disposal,” the application states.

The commission has an opportunity to propose conditions for Imperial Metals’ permit, according to Bodensteiner, who said the group is considering whether one condition could require the closing of all existing logging roads.

“That would mean they would have to build their own roads, which would be financially prohibitive. It would call them out,” Bodensteiner said.

Two years ago, the commission paid for an economic report which indicated the proposed Giant Copper mine would not be economically feasible, Bodensteiner said. Imperial Metals has also struggled financially, with experts warning the company may be on the brink of bankruptcy, and the company selling off a 70 per cent stake in its Red Chris Mine to Australia’s Newcrest Mining.

Bodensteiner said that, in their meeting, Minister Mungall indicated she would be open to hearing the commission’s suggestions for conditions.

A clearcut in the Doughnut Hole. Imperial Metals proposes to extend the logging road to access sites for drilling and trenching. This photo was taken from Silverdaisy ridge, looking south into the protected lands of Manning Provincial Park and the U.S. Photo: Wilderness Committee

‘No Mount Polley in Manning Park’

The application is already provoking strong reactions from both sides of the border.

A letter to the commission from more than 20 U.S. conservation, recreation and wildlife organizations sets out “strong opposition to any and all resource extraction activities” in the headwaters of the Skagit River, which supplies 30 per cent of the freshwater to the Puget Sound.

“Neither the previously allowed logging activities, pending timber sales, nor this latest mineral exploration permit are in alignment or in keeping with the spirit and intent of the Treaty,” says the letter, which is signed by groups such as Washington Wild, Washington Environmental Council and Save Our Wild Salmon Coalition.

“It is essential that all proposed or future timber sales … be permanently terminated and that the proposed mineral exploration permit be denied as these activities fundamentally risk and create irreparable harm to the entire Skagit watershed, including downstream impact in the United States,” it says.

The area is critical habitat for imperilled species such as bull trout, grizzly bears and spotted owls as well as supporting the largest populations of steelhead and Chinook salmon in Puget Sound, says the letter.

Slash piled at a clearcut in the Doughnut Hole beside Manning Park, in 2004. The clearcut area in this photo is within endangered spotted owl habitat. Photo: Wilderness Committee

“These fish are a critical food resource for the imperilled southern resident killer whales and are central to the culture and integrity of several tribes both in the United States and Canada who have treaty rights to these important resources.”

Canada’s Department of Fisheries and Oceans recently announced a number of measures, including fisheries closures, to protect Pacific chinook salmon stocks, which are experiencing distressing population declines.

Despite confusing timelines for public input, B.C.-based democracy group Dogwood Initiative has prepared an online petition headed “No Mount Polley in Manning Park” calling on the B.C. government to reject the exploration permit.

The petition, which already has 5,000 signatures, should serve as a warning to the province that there’s going to be a significant number of concerned British Columbians, said Dogwood’s communications director Kai Nagata, adding that reaction so far has been visceral.

“In light of Mount Polley and the ongoing contamination of Quesnel Lake and the sad attempt at a cleanup and the failure of accountability mechanisms, the public is extra concerned about this company building a full-scale, open-pit mine at the headwaters of the Skagit River,” he said.

“The idea that the company that is responsible for the Mount Polley disaster wants to put its dirty mitts anywhere near Manning Park is alarming to a great number of British Columbians,” Nagata said.

Dogwood is not opposed to mining, but mines have to be developed in a way that respects Indigenous rights and the taxpayers of B.C., Nagata said.

“What we have seen from Imperial Metals is they are all-too-willing to take advantage of the weaknesses and loopholes in B.C.’s mining laws to benefit their bottom line, so it’s an issue of trust,” he said.

Joe Foy, national campaign director for the Wilderness Committee, said it was a major problem when B.C. Timber Sales allowed logging in the area, but Imperial Metals looking for gold would be a nightmare.

“In our view, Imperial Metals, with the assistance of the [Skagit Environmental Endowment Commission], needs to be sitting down with the B.C. government and talking about how B.C. can regain control from Imperial Metals in the Doughnut Hole and the next thing that needs to happen is the Doughnut Hole and the rest of the Skagit need formal protection,” he said.

Imperial Metals’ exploration a bargaining technique?

Since 2015 the commission has held discussions with Imperial Metals in an effort to purchase the mineral tenures, but has not yet been able to get a price from the company.

Some individuals, including Ken Farquharson, a former Canadian commissioner of the Skagit Environmental Endowment Commission, speculate the exploration application is a bargaining technique.

Farquharson, who was involved in the original efforts to protect the Skagit in the ’80s, said an evaluation of Imperial’s claims by a mining consultant concluded that copper deposits were small and there would be severe permitting problems.

However, Imperial is now claiming that last year’s logging road construction uncovered a gold vein they want to explore, Farquharson said.

“I think they should be entitled to do their exploration, because they still have a valid claim, but the time should be severely limited, say to six months,” he said.

There should also be strict restoration conditions, especially as Imperial has not yet cleaned up from its activities in the area in 1996, Farquharson said.

Even if exploration goes ahead, it is unlikely the Giant Copper mine will ever become a reality, he said.

“I don’t think any government would be able to stand up to the outcry … What we desperately need now is help to persuade Imperial, either through the government or from public opinion, to sit down and negotiate a price. Once we have a price we can talk about where the money will come from,” he said.

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Southeast Alaskans, anxious about B.C.'s mining boom along the Alaskan border, are pinning their hopes for stronger mine management on a treaty that dates back more than a century.

The International Joint Commission (IJC), operating under the Boundary Waters Treaty since 1909, is a body with six appointed members —three from Canada and three from the U.S. — used to resolve water or air conflicts between the two countries.

However, although the commission appears to be tailor-made to deal with the concern over B.C. mines in the headwaters of Southeast Alaska’s most important salmon rivers, politicians on both side of the border appear reluctant to hand over responsibility to a commission whose recommendations remain entirely independent of either party.

B.C. is seen as the major stumbling block, but the U.S. State Department is also hesitating, despite appeals to Secretary of State John Kerry from municipalities, First Nations, fishing organizations and tourism groups requesting the IJC's involvement.

In response to questions from DeSmog Canada, a State Department spokeswoman said the Mount Polley mine investigation is being watched closely and the State Department remains concerned about the potential effects of B.C. mines on the people of Alaska, but she encouraged B.C. and Alaska to increase cooperation and communication on transboundary mines rather than count on an IJC ruling.

“We have highlighted our concerns with the governments of Canada and B.C. at senior levels in government-to-government channels and do not anticipate referring this issue to the International Joint Commission at this time,” she said.

Alaska 'A Full Step Away' From Escalating Issue to Joint Commission: Lt. Governor

Alaska Lt. Gov. Byron Mallott, who recently travelled to B.C. to meet with Energy and Mines Minister Bill Bennett, said that discussions are continuing between Alaska and B.C. and he is not yet sure whether there will be a role for the IJC.

“Whether or not it is appropriate or timely that the IJC be invoked will be determined by the course of events,” Mallott said.

“To me, we are at least a full step away from that.”

If B.C. and Alaska forge a positive, transparent relationship, with sufficient oversight and cross-boundary input to safeguard Alaska’s interests, there may not be a need to seek help from the IJC, he said.

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“It is important that Alaska and B.C. and the interests on both sides of the border be able to take this as far as possible,” he said, adding that, during his visit, he did not see a strong federal presence on mining issues in B.C.

The state’s congressional delegation is keeping in contact with the State Department on a possible role for the IJC, Mallott said.

Last year, Senator Lisa Murkowski, former senator Mark Begich and Congressman Don Young wrote to John Kerry asking him to raise the problem with his Canadian counterparts.

“Water quality is an extremely important issue for Alaskans. Accordingly, we ask you and other officials from the Department of State to raise these concerns with the governments of Canada and B.C.,” the letter says.

Energy and Mines Minister Bill Bennett has not responded to a DeSmog Canada interview request, but, in statements to media after his meeting with Mallott, he acknowledged Alaska’s “legitimate concerns” and said the discussions were a good foundation for a possible memorandum of understanding with the state.

B.C. Permitting Process Doesn’t Address Cumulative Impacts

The MOU could be similar to the arrangement with Montana, covering the Flathead River, where water testing is done at the border, he suggested.

However, the idea of an MOU does not sit well with grassroots groups pushing for a referral to the IJC.

MOUs are largely focused on information sharing and do not provide enforceable protections for downstream resources, said Chris Zimmer of Rivers Without Borders.

“Bennett’s offer for greater involvement in the B.C. permitting process is simply inadequate to address our concerns and is a sign that B.C. is not taking our concerns seriously,” Zimmer said.

“The B.C. permitting process, no matter how well it is carried out, is simply not designed to address long-term impacts from multiple mines, across a broad landscape, over the long term.”

It is always a difficult decision for politicians to ask for outside help, said David LaRoche, who served as executive secretary to the U.S. side of the commission from 1979 to 1996 and has since worked on transboundary watershed issues.

“Each country takes a leap of faith when it relies on something outside the established mechanism to have the issue addressed,” he said.

All Parties Need to Agree to Refer Case to International Joint Commission

Ideally, if the IJC is to be involved, there should be agreement from B.C., Canada, Alaska and the U.S.

“Under the treaty it is possible for one country to ask the commission to undertake a study, but it has never happened and the chances are close to zero as it would have no value because it would immediately be seen as biased by the country that did not ask,” LaRoche said.

Historically, both countries ask for a reference and agree on the specifics they want the IJC to study.

“If a province or state were to object it would be highly unlikely that a letter of reference would be sent. Unless B.C. is agreeable, this one won’t unfold,” LaRoche said.

Those campaigning for the commission’s involvement point to article four of the treaty, which says “waters flowing across the boundary shall not be polluted on either side to the injury of health or property on the other.”

Two B.C. Tailings Dams Expected to Fail Every 10 Years

So far, none of the new mines in northwest B.C. have polluted rivers, but there is a grating awareness of the possibility of a Mount Polley-type accident, something which was underlined by the report from the independent panel looking into the failure of the tailings pond dam, which found, under current regulations, two B.C. dams would be expected to fail every 10 years.

It is a statistic that shocked observers on both sides of the border and led to ramped up calls for a referral to the IJC.

Even though findings by the commission are not binding on either party, the recommendations carry a hefty dose of moral suasion and public clout, especially as conclusions are usually reached by consensus.

In 1984, after complaints by B.C., the IJC gave the thumbs-down to construction of a dam on the Skagit River that would have flooded parts of B.C. and in 1985, after U.S. complaints, the IJC recommended against an open pit coalmine in B.C.’s Flathead Valley until the impact on fisheries could be eliminated.

NDP energy and mines spokesman Norm Macdonald said the core issue, in the wake of the systemic failures pointed out by the Mount Polley report, is the need for the province to enforce environmental rules and standards, putting public safety ahead of economics, rather than cutting essential staff and accepting huge donations from the mining industry.

“Whatever tool you use, it has to be something where there is no tolerance for failure,” Macdonald said.

“We don’t tolerate elevators or bridges falling down and we have to take the same attitude to these facilities.”

Photo: www.sacbee.com

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