Smoke rising from south of Jasper townsite is no cause for alarm. The burning is merely the second stage of the FireSmart ForestWise treatment program for several large parcels of land that have been thinned over the past several weeks. Now, Parks Canada’s fire crews are on the ground piling some of the fallen timber and burning slash. The burning is scheduled to continue on weekdays until mid-April. Although Parks officials emphasize that there is no fire risk from the burning, smoke could be blown into the townsite area. In order to avoid that from happening, a meteorologist with Alberta Sustainable Resource Development will be working alongside the FireSmart coordinators to ensure that burning takes place when the smoke will leave the area quickly. Any questions or concerns can be directed to Amber Pastoor at 852-6109. 

Trippin’ with caribou

While two intrepid adventurers might have taken months in the arctic in their efforts toward “Being Caribou”, locals and visitors alike can hop on a bus for a little exposure to the world of the woodland caribou this weekend.

The “Really Big Caribou Field Trip” is a four-hour journey by bus through the Maligne Valley that is intended to entertain and educate people on the basics of this species at risk. 

“The goal is to have 50 per cent locals and 50 per cent visitors,” said Parks Canada’s Janet Breau. With this in mind, the information presented on the field trip will be of an introductory and relatively basic nature. 

“We’re trying not to overwhelm people with too much detail that might be beyond their level of interest,” she said.

The program is set to include brief presentations by human-wildlife conflict specialist Wes Bradford on the Drivers for Caribou program on Park highways, a discussion of the relationship between wolves and caribou with Mike Wesbrook, a demonstration on radio telemetry tracking techniques with Mark Bradley and a presentation on lichens, a staple of the woodland caribou diet.

The bus departs at 10 a.m. Sunday so Parks advises attendees to bring a lunch and wear clothing appropriate for winter weather.

The trip is the last installment for this year in Parks’ series of Behind the Scenery events, the largest of which was the three-day Wildlife Festival held last October. Breau said that the decision was made early on to pick one species to focus on for this stage of the program. Caribou, as a federally-recognized species at risk, were a natural choice given the recovery process that has been ongoing for the last three years in Jasper National Park.

Besides the field trip, park biologists have presented information on caribou to Jasper Elementary School students, and to science classes in junior high as well.

The “Behind the Scenery” public information program might continue next year, said Breau.

“We’ve re-applied to the same innovation fund through Parks Canada for a follow-up program,” she said. “We will know in the next couple of weeks.”

The proposed follow-up will be more of a legacy project designed to provide the tools for making Parks research accessible to young people.

“This year we have the what’s cool about caribou program,” Breau said. “We want to be able to extend that and do similar things for other topics.”

Breau and her fellow organizers are hoping to have a full bus on Sunday and recommend that people call 852-1383 ahead of time to secure a spot.