Jasper National Park attempts to manage the forest with fire and felling

Motorists travelling south on Highway 93 will soon have a mechanized distraction to go along with the resplendent mountain scenery. In the coming weeks, logging crews will begin to clear large parcels of land south of town along the highway, including areas in the vicinity of the Whistler’s and Wapiti campgrounds and three outlying commercial properties; Alpine Village, Jasper House Bungalows and Becker’s Chalets.

It’s simply the latest step in Parks Canada’s FireSmart ForestWise initiative, a multi-year, multi-area plan to protect the town of Jasper and nearby built-up areas from fire with an eye towards restoring the traditional balance of the montane ecosystem in this part of the Athabasca Valley.

So far, crews have treated a large amount of land directly bordering the townsite, but this winter’s work is essential to the overall success of the strategy, according to Alan Westhaver, the project manager for Jasper National Park.

“One of the worst scenarios that we are worried about is fire moving from the south, funnelled by the Athabasca Valley itself and the drainage of air off the glaciers ... it’s obvious that we need to have good defences way out here. The closer we get to the townsite, the more rigorous we want to be. That’s what we’re dealing with out here,” he said.

There are other areas to the west of town and in the Jasper Park Lodge area that are also on the list, but the zones to the south were the most that could be achieved this season.

“This is what’s do-able this winter. We wanted to tender the whole area but it just wasn’t in the cards with what’s going on in the industry,” Westhaver said, adding that he is happy to be working with a company that specializes in selective logging. 

“This is the best proposal we have had in the last three years,” he said. “Previous contractors were logging companies that adapted their techniques. This company is actually starting to specialize in this kind of approach. This is their niche.”

The logging process involves three separate machines designed for the minimal impact they have on the landscape. The first fells the trees and bundles them together, moving through the woods on a pair of steel tracks that deliver between four to five pounds per square inch pressure on the soil. 

“You and I are putting more pressure on the ground with our feet than those machines do,” said Westhaver. The machine is able to move through small openings, meaning that permanent trails and tracks are not left behind. Following the cutting machine, described by Westhaver as being “like a pair of tweezers” is a  processer that limbs the trees and cuts them into lengths. Finally, a “forwarder” is brought in to collect the logs and remove them from the forest. This device has large inflatable tires.

The machine work will have to be done on a tight timeline, because even though the impact is minimal, Parks wants the heavy equipment to be out of the forest before the ground thaws.

“Our work window is between now and the end of March by the latest,” Westhaver said. “If the weather is suitable, we could carry on longer, or we could have to quit sooner if the ground thaws.”

Although the areas are not being completely cleared, there will be a noticeable difference in the visible forest density after the work is done. 

“It will look similar to the area around the far side of Lake Edith,” he said. That zone, cleared in 2003, was the site of a small controlled fire last spring and summer.

Westhaver looks at this area as an example of what can be achieved through the FireSmart ForestWise program. Not only are the nearby cabins better protected against the risk of wildfire, Parks has been able to reintroduce fire to the landscape.  

“It’s all part of a really well-thought out strategy,” said Westhaver. “We know that we need to reintroduce fire to the ecosystem, but it has to be done safely.

“By doing this work and restoring the ecosystem, we can expect a different kind of fire behaviour and protect the community of Jasper. We are setting ourselves up to do prescribed burns safely on the whole landscape.”

Big fires are historically associated with higher elevations, where winds play a more significant role and there is generally less fuel. In the valley bottoms, the fire history in Jasper suggests regular, smaller fires were the norm. Given the many decades of fire supression, however, the current conditions suggest large, catastrophic fires would also occur close to Jasper and elsewhere at lower elevations. Being proactive is key, Westhaver believes.

“This is really a primary issue — we know that this ecosystem is built on really big fires and we know that’s going to happen, so what’s the safest way to let that happen,” he said. “This project is central to how we are going to manage fire in the entire park. Right now, allowing a fire to burn right onto the edges of the townsite would be inappropriate. But eventually, it’s going to happen and we have to be prepared.”

When wildfires start or prescribed burns rage out of control, Parks has had to spend a lot of money and resources ensuring that they do not threaten built-up areas. With a properly prepared landscape, this could be less of a concern. 

“Even down at Moab Lake we suppressed a lot of that fire. We spent a lot of money keeping that fire from coming our way. In the future, if we’re well protected here, doing mechanical fuel treatment and small burns, then we could deal with that kind of fire differently,” said 

Westhaver.

“Fire is a good thing! Why are we spending taxpayers money to put out a good thing? This is allowing us to manage wildfire in a more logical and a more ecological way.” 

— Catch Part II of this feature report on the FireSmart ForestWise program in next week’s issue of the Fitzhugh