Megan GreeleyProgram Specialist

Todd WaltersExecutive Director

todd@peaceparkexpeditions.orgmegan@peaceparkexpeditions.org

Cory WilsonBrand Director

cory@thecollaborative.net

peaceparkexpeditions.org

Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park: Peace & Conflict Impact Assessment

Expedition

October 2010

PCIA Publication

October 2011

Documentary Release

January 2011

Edition 1 2011.10

Contents

Executive Summary

Introduction

Context

Approach

Findings

Core Conflict Drivers

Mitigating Factors

Additional Opportunities

Challenges

Conclusion

Bibliography

Annex

Stakeholder Profile

Conflict Profile

Peace Profile

Documentary Profile

Resources

EIA Worksheet

PCIA Worksheet

Acknowledgements

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5Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park: Peace and Conflict Impact Assessment

Edition 1 | October 2011

Executive Summary1

In October 2010, International Peace Park Expeditions (IPPE)

conducted an Exploratory Expedition in Waterton-Glacier

International Peace Park (WGIPP), with funding from the

University of Vermonts Institute for Environmental Diplomacy

& Security (IEDS). The purpose of the WGIPP Exploratory

Expedition was to examine the relationship between the

Blackfeet Confederacy and WGIPP in preparation for IPPEs

experiential peacebuilding expedition with youth living in

communities surrounding WGIPP. The secondary purpose

was to create a documentary delineating the attitudes and

perspectives surrounding transboundary issues occurring

within WGIPP and the surrounding communities.

IPPE incorporated a Peace and Conflict Impact Assessment

(PCIA) into the WGIPP Exploratory Expedition to help evaluate

the potential peace-enhancing or peace-reducing value01 of an

Experiential Peacebuilding Expedition in WGIPP. Through the

process of uncovering conflict drivers (actions perpetuating

conflicts) and mitigating factors (actors mobilizing resiliencies)

that exist in and around WGIPP, IPPE designs programs that

help strengthen ongoing peacebuilding efforts and explore

new mitigating factors with stakeholders in and around

WGIPP. Moreover, organizations implementing programs and

researchers conducting studies in and around WGIPP, can use

the PCIA resources developed by IPPE to better understand

how programs impact or are impacted by the conflicts and

the environment in and around WGIPP.

01 Hammill, A. and Charles Besanon. 2007. Measuring Peace Park Performance: Definitions and Experiences, in

Saleem H. Ali, ed., Peace Parks: Conservation and Conflict Resolution, Cambridge: The MIT Press: 31.

J. Todd WaltersExecutive Director

International Peace Park Expeditions

Executive Summary1

6Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park: Peace and Conflict Impact Assessment

Edition 1 | October 2011

Introduction2

For the purposes of this report, peace parks can be de-fined

as transboundary protected areas that are formally dedicated

to the protection and maintenance of biological diversity,

the preservation of natural and cultural resources, and to the

protection of peace and cooperation.02

WGIPP became the worlds first peace park in 1932 after Rotarian

members successfully lobbied the US and Canadian governments

to link Waterton Lakes National Park in Alberta, Canada with

Glacier National Park in Montana, USA. Located in the center

of the Crown of the Continent ecosystem, WGIPP is one of the

most unique ecosystems in North America. In 1995, UNESCO

designated WGIPP as a World Heritage site03 for having more

than 1,200 species of vascular plants, 70 species of mammals,

including all of North Americas native carnivores, 270 species of

birds and 25 species of fish among an aquatic life richer than any

place in the Rockies between the Yukon and Mexico.04 However,

the effects of global climate change species extirpation, species

extinction, habitat fragmentation, lost business revenue and

livelihoods are threatening to destroy this vital ecosystem, as

well as the cultural identity of the original human inhabitants of

the area.

In addition to the environmental conflict, this Park is also the

central focus of a one hundred year structural conflict over land

dispossession between the U.S./Canadian governments and the

four tribes of the Blackfeet Confederacy - the Piikani, Siksiska

and Blood/Kainai Nations in Alberta and the Blackfeet Nation in

Montana.05

02 Ali, Saleem H. 2007. Introduction: A Natural Connection between Ecology and

Peace? in Saleem H. Ali, ed., Peace Parks: Conservation and Conflict Resolution, Cam-

bridge: The MIT Press: 2.

03 United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). 2005.

World Heritage. http://www. whc.unesco.org/.

04 P. R. Dingwall, K. Rao. 2009. Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park: Report of

the Reactive Monitoring Mission, UNESCO World Heritage Centre/International Union for

Conservation of Nature

05 National Geographic Society. 2008. Long the great warriors of the eastern slopes, the

Blackfoot Confederacy includes the Piikani, Siksiska and Blood/Kainai Nations in Alberta

and the Blackfeet Nation in Montana. On the west side are the mountain bands of the

Historically, the establishment of national parks in both countries

took away land rights and implemented harsh policies toward

original inhabitants.06 The land dispossession, enforcement of

the artificial U.S./Canadian border, and subsequent assimilation

techniques imposed by the U.S. and Canadian Governments

segmented the cultural identity of the Blackfeet Confederacy

while generating animosity between the Blackfeet Confederacy

and the U.S./Canadian Governments that would be passed down

through generations.

Although both the environmental and structural conflicts in and

around WGIPP are not overtly violent, the former exacerbates

the latter causing the latent cultural degradation of the Blackfeet

peoples identity, which is equally damaging. In the words

of a Blackfeet Chief, recounted by Lea Whitford, Blackfeet

Department Chair at the Blackfeet Community College, To take

this land from me is like chopping off my head.07

Ktunaxa Nation in British Columbia and the Ksanka/Kootenai in Montana. Farther south, the

Interior Salish people, including the Bitterroot Salish and Pend dOreille, are closely related

to other Salish-speaking nations in British Columbia, Washington, and Idaho. http://visitmt.

com/Images/cofc/CoCHistLowResFinal.pdf

06 Spence, M.D. 2000. Dispossessing the Wilderness: Indian Removal and the Making of

the National Parks. New York: Oxford University Press.

07 Lea Whitford Interview, October 13, 2010

Thirty thirty swath border cut at 49th Parallel U.S./Canadian border. Flags and Blackfeet art installation at U.S./Canadian Border

ContextA

7Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park: Peace and Conflict Impact Assessment

Edition 1 | October 2011

Introduction2

OverviewOver the course of eight days in Montana and Alberta, in WGIPP and

the surrounding buffer communities, IPPE conducted thirteen interviews

with a variety of stakeholders exploring their relationship to WGIPP

and transboundary issues. IPPE staff volunteered their time and energy

before, during and after the Exploratory Expedition to complete the

research, writing and production of the complementary educational

tools: this PCIA report and the accompanying documentary video. The

budget covered only travel expenses. As such, we recognize its limitations

as a snapshot in time, and that we view this as a living document to

be continually updated over time to include additional stakeholder

perspectives, and evolving social, cultural, economic and political context.

The complementary PCIA report and documentary video allow our work

to reach a broad audience with multiple learning styles, harness the power

of social media, provide educational tools for the classrooms, provide

professional tools for the implementation and evaluation of projects within

WGIPP and the surrounding buffer communities. We look forward to the

opportunity to update this edition in the future with the help a growing

stakeholder community.

ApproachB

Transcending Boundaries: Perspectives from Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park

Montana, United States / Alberta, Canada

Documentary / 13:00

http://vimeo.com/ippe/transcendingboundaries-wgipp

Peace and Conflict Impact Assessment: Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park

Montana, United States / Alberta, Canada

13 Interviews / 8 Days

http://peaceparkexpeditions.org/public/ippe_pcia_wgipp_11ed01.pdf

8Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park: Peace and Conflict Impact Assessment

Edition 1 | October 2011