The Jasper Jr./Sr. High School hosted the Summit on Sustainability from April 14 to 16 at the Palisades, inviting students from schools all over the region and B.C. to participate.

Over the three-day conference, the students took in workshops and keynote speakers on different topics including forest fire management through prescribed burns and First Nations knowledge. Some students got a chance to get outside for a bike ride on nearby trails as well. 

Dave Smith, fire/vegetation specialist for Jasper National Park spoke to students on how Parks safely sets forest fires – a topic of particular interest to the students who later got to try out a drip torch. 

Smith explained how Parks has collected data on the frequency of forest fires in the region before human intervention; they count tree rings and take note of the rings featuring fire damage. He passed around a “tree cookie”, or a slice of a mature tree, so that students could examine the rings and darker layers that indicated the tree had been damaged by a natural burn. 

Smith presented the students with data from the past hundred years, showing the rate of wildfires from the early 1900s, to now, when human intervention stopped most wildfires in the region. 

After the discussion, the students headed outside to learn about how different trees adapt. The aspen, for example, reacts to fire by sending up more individual trees. A cluster of aspen trees is usually one single organism, and much of the tree is actually underground. 

The students then got the chance to try out two different fire starting techniques used by Parks Canada with Smith  and Kim Weir, fire communications officer for Parks. The first one uses tiny ping pong balls filled with a chemical. A machine injects each ball with another chemical, that causes a reaction after about 30 seconds – the perfect amount of time for the ball to drop from a helicopter and land in the area to be burned. The ball then catches fire and lights a prescribed burn. The second method of fire lighting the students tried out was the use of a drip torch. After a demonstration, Smith let each of the students light a line of fire with the device. 

Smith said it takes about two months for burned areas to re-grow. They often are restored with tall, healthy green vegetation. 

His bottom line for the talk was that the famous Smokey the Bear was misinformed – fire is in fact good for the landscape. 

In another session, Tanja Schramm, a researcher of traditional knowledge and history, talked to students about the origins of First Nations beliefs. She discussed how aboriginal peoples respect their environment and provide good reasons for using resources. For example, hunting an animal and using all of the meat to feed a family. Schramm said that leaving behind meat on an animal is extremely offensive in aboriginal culture. First Nations people do not hunt more than they need, waste nothing and share what they have. 

“If we all use our resources in a wise way, we won’t need as many,” Schramm said. 

The students later participated in a smudging with David MacPhee, the president of the Aseniwuche Winewak Nation (Rocky Mountain People in Cree) from Grand Cache. 

Other programs that students could choose from included vegetation management, caribou conservation, waste management, and managing recreational activities.