Rich Janssen

The expansion of a British Columbia coal mine upstream of Lake Koocanusa and the Kootenai River will undergo review from the federal Canadian government. The decision handed down Wednesday will apply more scrutiny to the project.

The latest step in a years-long process laying out the future of the National Bison Range Monday night dredged up questions of race and public land ownership that have lingered since a failed 2016 proposal to transfer the refuge to the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes. 

New possibilities for management of the National Bison Range north of Missoula are out, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is taking public comment on them at three meetings this week. 

U.S. and Canadian officials are holding closed door meetings Wednesday and Thursday in British Columbia on the Columbia River Treaty. Tribes across the Northwest hope the outcomes include their demands for a healthy environment. 

After more than 100 years of federal control, the lands of the National Bison Range may be returned to the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes. Last week, the tribes released draft legislation that would transfer authority over the range from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to the CSKT.