After 35 years, warden Wes Bradford retires

Last Thursday, Wes Bradford, wildlife conflict specialist for Jasper National Park, hazed some elk out of town and then moved a black bear off the golf course at the Fairmont Jasper Park Lodge.

Just another day at the office for Bradford. Except this time it was his last. 

After 35 years of hazing bears, educating the public, rescuing people and avalanche control, Bradford has hung up his Stetson for the last time.

But, that doesn’t mean you won’t see him sitting in his car watching the bull elk or travelling up to Devona or tracking down a wolf pack.

“Why can’t I be out there watching these bull elk in the rut?” he asked.

“I’ll do some of that in my own time, of course, you know it’s not going to change. But, I’ll be putting the gas in my own vehicle,” he chuckled.

Born in Carrot Creek, just east of Edson, Bradford said there’s about 80 per cent of him saying, “right on, good, 35 years of service. Time to retire, move on.”

However, there is that other 20 per cent. “Oh gee, I’m going to miss a lot of the things I did.”

For Parks Canada though, Bradford’s experience and knowledge of the vast park is simply irreplaceable.

“It will be a loss in terms of corporate knowledge and a great and capable individual,” said Greg Fenton, Superintendent of Jasper National Park. “It’s hard, as you can expect, to replace somebody with that experience... There’s a lot of up and comers, but nothing along the lines of his dedication that he’s shown over the years.”

He’s always the first one into the office, and the last one to leave, said Terry Winkler, who has worked with Bradford for the past 15 years. “The effort that he put in we need four people to replace him,” he said.

“He just had a super work ethic, he’s tremendously skilled and very versatile. He’s able to jump in at any role... as a rescue team member, to being a base rescue leader, to be a long term planning visionary person that deals with the broader wildlife management issues.”

Even for Fenton, Bradford was a mentor when he began working for the park in 1979. 

“He was certainly a mentor at the outset of my parks career,” he said. “I worked with him quite a bit with some of the wildlife interaction stuff... as a young and upcoming warden I was actively listening and watching very closely.”

Now 55 years-old, Braford said he’s always had an affinity with the outdoors and wildlife.

“I used to see the Alberta fish and wildlife officers or the forest ranger come to our farm and as a young kid I thought, ‘gee I wouldn’t mind doing that.’”

Bradford did a couple ride-alongs with the RCMP and the forest rangers, and decided that he would head off to the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology (NAIT) where he completed a diploma in Wildlife Fishery and Forestry.

Then, in 1975, he worked with the Alberta Provincial Parks at Rocky Mountain House for a few months until he was given a seasonal warden position in Jasper. 

Hoping to return to JNP, Bradford left for the winter and waited anxiously to see if he would get a permanent position in the park he’d come to love.

“It’s a big park, I loved it here,” he said, “it’s a big setting, a real varied job, and a pretty unique place.”

After a phone call to the chief warden to express his interest in a career with Parks Canada, but not a term position, Bradford was given a permanent position in JNP from May 1976.

Starting as a generalist park warden, Bradford did a little bit of everything. 

“Public safety, back country warden, I worked on the avalanche control program at Marmot Basin because Parks Canada did it at the time – so I worked there for five years (and) at Sunwapta for four.”

From there he became a senior park warden in charge of wildlife and fisheries, a position he held for around seven or eight years. 

He eventually focused on wildlife conflict management where he’s been an influential and crucial factor, both on the ground and in management planning, for the last 20 years.

“Just about every aspect of wildlife management has been influenced by Wes,” said Fenton.

According to Winkler, Bradford’s passion for his job was boldly evident and his ability to pass on his knowledge another irreplaceable quality.

“He had a true belief in his job,” he said.

“I guess I have a love for wildlife, or I appreciate wildlife,” Bradford explained.

Evidence of his knowledge and abilities is the fact that over the years, he’s never been injured. Except for that one time, he said.

Only five years ago, during the spring a black bear was foraging for grain on the railroad tracks. “It was one frosty morning and the black bear was behind Mountain Rose Cafe (now Utopia Restaurant). I went out there and loaded up my shotgun with rubber bullets, and I fired a cracker shell and he runs across the railroad track.”

As usual, Bradford chased the bear across the highway.

“And, I should know better,” he said, “I’d only being doing it for 30 years... I was running pretty quickly and mid air I jumped up onto the log and my foot slipped off and over backwards I went.”

Landing on another log, Bradford said the pain was instant. “You know you’ve done something.” But, a tireless worker he jumped back up and continued to haze the bear out of town before returning to his truck – stiff and sore from his accident.

Although looking after the wildlife is Bradford’s main priority, he said sometimes a warden has to put the public’s safety first which may mean killing a beloved animal.

“I’ve shot lots of bears in my career, but I’ve never had to shoot a bear that’s been aggressive towards me,” he said.

A true believer in educating the public, so that they won’t leave food out, which will result in food habituated bears for example, Bradford said he would always assess ‘what caused this’ after having to destroy a bear. 

“I should be trying to prevent those problems rather than having to go out and deal with them.”

“Let’s try to inform and educate people so they’re making wise decisions about them storing their food so that at the end of the day I don’t have to go and shoot that black bear. My goal should be educating people, or enforcing regulations so that you don’t get to that,” he said.

Given this passion and love for wildlife, it’s no surprise that Bradford plans to spend his warden retirement as a wildlife interpreter – teaching visitors to the park about his love for the wildlife. 

And, when he’s not working you’ll probably see him watching his favourite animal in the park. The bull elk. 

“It surprises a lot of people, because they’ve caused me a pile of headaches over the years,” he said. “I really like the fall period, it’s a beautiful time, I like the elk bugle and they’re quite a majestic neat animal. So I kind of like them.”

“My second favourite, of course is grizzly bears, but elk are my favourite. I guess because we see them lots, deal with them lots and they are kind of a majestic animal.”