Power projects among top threats to B.C. rivers: group

The Upper Pitt River, 40 kilometres east of Vancouver, tops the 2008 list of B.C.'s most endangered rivers.

The Outdoor Recreation Council of B.C. issued its annual list Monday and said the Upper Pitt is threatened by a proposal for a power development that would divert eight tributaries and construct seven powerhouses just off the river's main stem.

"The clustering of power projects along the Upper Pitt has raised serious concerns about the potential for adverse impacts to the river and its fish stocks," said council spokesman Mark Angelo in a news release.

Angelo called the Upper Pitt one of the jewels of B.C. waterways that needs protection.

The Flathead River, which flows from southeastern B.C. into Montana, is tied with the Fraser River for second place on the list of endangered waterways.

A proposed open-pit coal mine raises concerns for the future of the Flathead River headwaters, Angelo said.

'Diversity of wildlife and ecosystems'

"No other region along the Canada, U.S. border sustains such a diversity of wildlife and ecosystems," Angelo said of the Flathead River.

The council said the river has important trans-boundary fish populations and has one of the highest levels of inland grizzly bears anywhere in North America.

The council said pollution and industrial development along the Fraser continue to plague B.C.'s longest river.

Mining and power developments are named as concerns threatening five of the other rivers on this year's most endangered list.

The Taku, Peace, headwaters of the Skeena, Nass and Stikine, Kettle, Coquitlam, Okanagan, Coldwater, Little Campbell and Salmon Rivers, as well as the Glacier/Howser system, all make the endangered rivers list because of development, mining, water extraction or encroaching urbanization.