Jasper National Park experienced the largest wildfire in the park’s history, with flames torching over 32,000 hectares and destroying nearly 30 percent of the town of Jasper.
Fortunately, the heroic efforts of the Municipality of Jasper, Parks Canada, and hundreds of firefighters from numerous other communities spared most of the town of Jasper from the monstrous fire.
There were no injuries or fatalities, and over 25,000 people were safely evacuated from the park.
But what about the abundant wildlife living in the national park?
Just like Jasper’s human residents, the park’s wildlife has shone through in terms of resilience and adaptability, particularly for some high-profile animals like grizzly bears.
Bear 222
Bear 222, a well-known grizzly in Jasper, showcased extraordinary instincts during the crisis.
With her two cubs in tow, she sought refuge by the Athabasca River in a wet spot, evading the 100-metre-high flames whipped up by strong winds.
“Bear 222 looks like a very healthy grizzly bear right now and has been eating a mix of berries and clover on the edge of the Jasper Park Lodge golf course,” said James McCormick, Human-Wildlife Coexistence Specialist for Parks Canada.
The survival of Bear 222 and her cubs offers a glimmer of hope amid the devastation.
A wildlife photographer and advocate, John Marriott was not surprised by their escape.
“These larger animals like bears and wolves are incredibly resilient and can generally outrun even a fast-moving wildfire,” he explained.
However, not all wildlife in Jasper National Park were as fortunate.
Smaller animals, such as amphibians, reptiles, and small mammals, faced more significant challenges in escaping the fast-moving fire.
“If you’re something smaller than a squirrel, it’s going to be hard to outrun that fire,” noted Chris Johnson, a professor of conservation biology.
Parks Canada has been actively managing the fire’s aftermath, focusing on cleaning up human food and garbage exposed by the evacuation and firefighting activities.
This is crucial to prevent the attraction of wildlife to human areas, which can lead to dangerous encounters.
“We’re looking at trying to manage garbage, food waste, and spoiled food,” McCormick said.
Bears, in particular, can become aggressive when defending food sources, and grizzlies have been sighted feeding on animal carcasses in the burned forest.
Habitat Loss for Some
Woodland caribou, already struggling due to habitat loss from logging, and oil and gas development, face a bleak future.Â
Tara Russell, program director at the Northern Alberta chapter of the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society, expressed deep concern: “I’m really fearful for what this fire means for them.”
Woodland caribou tend to live in old-growth forests, where they consume tree and ground lichens in winter and lichens, grasses, sedges, forbs, horsetails, and shrub leaves in summer. The fires removed some of their preferred habitat.
The Brazeau herd, with fewer than 10 caribou, and the Tonquin herd, with about 50, are at significant risk as their already limited habitat is further reduced.
“There’s really so little left of their habitat to maintain that resiliency to the occasional fire,” Russell said. She also said climate change has made wildfires more frequent and extreme.
Creating New Habitat
Despite the immediate devastation, experts are optimistic about the long-term recovery of the park’s ecosystems.
Wildfires are a natural part of the cycle in this region, and the renewal and regrowth that follow can provide abundant food sources for wildlife.
Marriott explained, “Most of the wildlife in Jasper will benefit long-term from the renewal and regrowth that will happen.”
Rest assured, larger animals like elk, deer, moose, and wolves are expected to return to the rejuvenated landscapes.
Tender new plants and berry bushes, which thrive in the nutrient-rich ash, will support these populations. McCormick emphasized, “Fire is a natural process, and we expect animals to find new places to live.”
However, the short-term consequences for wildlife are significant.
Animals displaced by the fire face the challenge of finding new habitats and competing for scarce resources in the short term.
Slow-moving animals, such as porcupines and fledgling birds, are particularly vulnerable and may struggle to survive the following winter without their familiar nesting and hibernation sites.
The impact of wildfires on wildlife depends on the fire’s size, intensity, and frequency, all of which are changing with climate change.
Parks Canada anticipates that the wildfire season in Jasper will be significantly longer by 2040.
Adapted to a Fire Ecosystem
Nonetheless, the resilience of the park’s wildlife offers hope. As McCormick said, “We should have better opportunities to see if there are bears or a carcass in the area.”
Another positive outcome of fire is its ability to eradicate the mountain pine beetle habitat, a species that has thrived in recent decades due to rising global temperatures.
Pine beetle infestations killed vast swaths of forest in Jasper National Park, which increased fire risk throughout the park.
Pine beetles like older pine trees for food, and now, with many of those trees gone, the pine beetle population will be reduced to more normal levels.
The forests and wildlife of Jasper National Park have co-evolved with fire over thousands of years, with fire being a necessary component for the ecosystem’s health.
Decades of human fire suppression, a warming climate, and drought have combined to create a perfect storm for a monster fire in Jasper National Park.
We are seeing an increasing number of these massive, intense fires nationwide and worldwide.
How the increasing frequency of these fires affects ecosystems in the long term remains to be seen.
While the road to recovery for the townsite will be long, the flames’ passing offered the immediate renewal of the park’s ecosystem.
