The wildfire that destroyed a third of Jasper’s structures devastated residents, but the town is now on its way to recovering.
Last month, several businesses reopened in Jasper, including the grocery store, pharmacy, and some gas stations.
Meanwhile, Jasper’s wildlife still struggles to navigate the scarred landscape. Wildfires are a part of nature, although a warming global climate causes wildfires to become more frequent and severe.
Surprisingly, the number of wildlife deaths during a wildfire is often small. For example, a wildfire in 1998 razed a third of Yellowstone National Park in the United States, affecting the park’s 17,000 elk population.
However, a study found that only 350 elk died in the fire. Unlike smaller animals that tend to hide underground or in sheltered places during wildfires, large animals run away.
“Typically, the most affected are the slower-moving species, like turtles, badgers, and elderly and very young animals who are unable to escape,” Mark Boyce, a wildlife biologist at the University of Alberta, told the Edmonton Journal.
Active wildfires might result in somewhat low wildlife mortality, but it’s the time after a wildfire that animals struggle the most.
Food sources are often destroyed or contaminated during wildfires, forcing wildlife to look for food in places outside of their home range.
To make matters worse, this year’s buffaloberry yield hasn’t been great. Buffaloberries constitute a significant food source for animals like bears, with a grizzly bear eating as many as 100,000 berries daily.
Desperate for food, bears will wander into populated areas for food. Jasper is seeing this behaviour firsthand.
As Jasper rebuilds, several black bears have been spotted frequenting the townsite. These bears are rummaging through garbage, snacking on non-native fruit trees, and digging through rubble for food.
The bears’ actions have raised concerns about human-wildlife conflicts and the possibility of having to kill the animals if they keep wandering through Jasper, a small community of about 5,000 people.
Drawing The Line
Bears are beautiful but wild animals, and they should be treated as such. Drawing the line between humans and wildlife is important for our safety and theirs.
In Alberta, bears are killed if they are a threat to public safety or have killed livestock, damaged private property, or made contact with a human, resulting in injury or death.
Animals are unpredictable. A barking dog or screaming child is all it takes to cause a “friendly” bear to react defensively, which could lead to a potentially fatal encounter and, ultimately, the bear’s death.
The only way to co-exist with bears is at a distance. Allowing bears to get too close to populated areas puts humans and bears at risk.
According to Tara Russell, program director with the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society (CPAWS) Northern Alberta, managing wildlife attractants is the best way to keep bears out of public areas.
“As an organization, we’re quite concerned about the well-being of wildlife populations, and human-bear conflict is obviously something that would concern us because it often results in the destruction of wildlife or (relocation),” said Russell.
Wildlife attractants include fruit-bearing trees, garbage, and berry shrubs. When animals easily access human food sources, they associate humans with food.
This association causes the animals to lose their natural fear of humans through habituation. A habituated bear does not react to the presence of humans and may even approach humans in search of food.
Last week, a young black bear was killed for eating crabapple trees in Canmore after it showed zero fear when wildlife officials and residents tried to scare it away.
If Jasper’s black bears continue to wander into town fearlessly looking for food, Parks Canada may decide to kill them to protect public safety.
To prevent this outcome, residents must properly dispose of their waste, which is easier said than done for a town in the thick of rebuilding. Parks Canada confirmed that over 350 fridges and freezers filled with rotting food were left on the street to be picked up and disposed of. What may smell noxious to us would smell like a king’s buffet to a bear!
The Root Of The Problem
As residents and contractors work to clean and rebuild properties in Jasper, there will be plenty of waste.
Parks Canada encourages residents to dispose of their waste in bear-safe garbage bins, not industrial waste bins.
“Managing fruit trees, food waste, and other attractants like fridges is the only viable approach to keep bears out of the Jasper townsite. By removing bear attractants, we are enhancing safety for residents and giving bears the best chance of survival,” said Parks Canada.
Industrial waste bins are not bear-safe and are for demolition materials only. Throwing food and other wildlife attractants in these bins will allow bears and other wildlife to access their contents easily.
If the black bears do not have a reliable, easy-to-access food source in Jasper, they will look for food in other places, preferably in the wild, where they belong.
Looking for natural food sources in the wild will give the bears a better chance of survival. Continuing to rely on Jasper will lead to one of two outcomes for the bears.
Either Parks Canada kills the animals, or they ingest something toxic while rummaging through waste and falling sick.
Residents can remove wildlife attractants in several ways. Removing fruit-bearing trees from their property or ensuring that all fruit is removed from the trees makes a world of difference.
In Canmore, the town’s fruit tree removal program covers 100 percent of costs up to $500, giving residents an incentive to ditch their trees to protect wildlife.
Meanwhile, Jasper has seen a massive increase in bear incidents. In 2023, wildlife officials responded to over 350 bear encounters, more than triple the encounters reported in 2021. And now bears are roaming through the town in the wildfire’s aftermath.
The bears were most attracted to free fruits. But Jasper residents have more significant worries than cleaning up their fruit trees, creating a perfect storm for bear troubles.
The town’s black bears are on thin ice, but it’s not too late to prevent an outcome where these bears are killed trying to survive.
