Logging, pruning and anxiety in Banff ahead of first summer since Jasper wildfire

Matthew Scace · The Canadian Press

· Posted: May 20, 2025 9:53 AM EDT | Last Updated: 2 hours ago

Looking retired implicit a budding meadow with blackened histrion stumps connected the borderline of Banff National Park, Cliff White points to a acheronian thicket of trees wherever the bare crippled ends.

"The adjacent occurrence successful present is going to beryllium incredible," says the erstwhile Parks Canada occurrence absorption co-ordinator, lasting successful the expansive Carrot Creek occurrence break.

The meadow was shorn much than 20 years agone by Parks Canada to dilatory aboriginal wildfires successful their tracks earlier reaching Banff and Canmore.

But it's a fraction of the dense, people fire-prone wood blanketing the Bow Valley, wherever fearfulness is increasing that a ablution of embers, similar those that destroyed a 3rd of the structures successful Jasper, Alta., past summer, could deed Alberta's astir fashionable tourer destination.

The Rockies are facing different twelvemonth of drought conditions. The snowfall melted respective weeks earlier than normal, and the snowpack is little than it was successful 2023, the twelvemonth of Canada's record-breaking wildfires, said John Pomeroy, a hydrologist who lives successful Canmore.

"Canmore's watching with large trepidation," said Pomeroy, besides a assemblage professor.

In the contention to mitigate the harm from aboriginal fires, stewards of Alberta's parks person turned to loggers to make occurrence guards similar Carrot Creek. The areas are designed to starve a occurrence of substance and make capable bare onshore for embers to fizzle retired connected the ground.

This year, Parks Canada hired an Indigenous logging institution to raze respective hectares of onshore adjacent Banff. Profits of that timber volition beryllium utilized to support the land, said Jane Park, occurrence and vegetation specializer for Banff National Park.

Each occurrence interruption represents the commencement of a caller ecosystem that Parks Canada volition request to maintain.

"We can't conscionable fto quality bash its happening and conscionable person wildfires benignant of spell willy-nilly," said Park, lasting among ample slash piles successful 1 of Banff's newest occurrence breaks.

Though hotter and drier summers person triggered the astir damaging wildfire seasons successful caller years, decades of occurrence suppression, starting successful the aboriginal 1900s, person made forests passim the Rockies heavy tinderboxes.

Fire is portion of the earthy beingness rhythm for galore of those trees, which transportation seeds wrong their conifer cones that are lone released erstwhile they're connected fire, Park said.

Prescribed burning, a accepted Indigenous practice, was stopped much than 100 years agone but restarted successful the 1980s erstwhile Parks Canada discovered it had allowed the wood to turn retired of control, Park said.

"We're inactive getting backmost to wherever we should person been."

The conflict against a ample wildfire volition besides beryllium fought wrong the upland towns.

In Canmore, Simon Bagshaw decided to halt taking consulting contracts truthful helium could absorption connected mitigating the hazard a occurrence could person connected his neighbourhood. He has led respective events this year, encouraging radical to spot log piles acold distant from their homes and to cleanable their gutters.

It's been a situation getting the assemblage connected board, helium said, due to the fact that galore homeowners don't unrecorded determination afloat time.

"There's a fewer of america wearing helmets and the remainder are wearing tuques, and we've got to alteration that."

In Banff, it's already been a topsy-turvy summertime for its tiny occurrence department. Fire Chief Keri Martens said the adust and blistery commencement to May was nerve-racking, but caller rainy conditions gave her country to breathe.

"The anxiousness level surely starts to rise," Martens said of the aboriginal summertime season.

Tables wrong Banff's occurrence section are covered successful ample maps, 1 of them with the astir 300 homes with roofs made of combustible materials similar cedar shake, which would beryllium astir astatine hazard of catching occurrence from embers.

Another identifies areas wherever a wildfire could trigger a slew of exigency measures, including the evacuation of much than 9,000 residents and implicit 20,000 tourists who inhabit the country implicit the summer.

Martens said the Jasper occurrence is apt down an uptick successful locals who person enlisted the municipality to region flammable trees from their properties and equip their homes with sprinklers.

"Jasper truly deed location for a batch of people," Martens said. "We've had a batch much radical scope retired to america astir our inducement programs."

As for White, helium said parkland unit are making bully advancement connected gathering occurrence breaks. But helium hopes the exemplary for managing forests tin beryllium altered to springiness radical impacted by occurrence much power implicit the area.

More needs to beryllium done, and faster, helium said. And the times merit a change.

"This is not Mickey Mouse worldly anymore," helium said. "This is truly serious."