The job of a lumberjack is obvious.
A mile-long, 81-acre stretch of land on the mountainside, flanked by dense forest on both sides, was nearly flattened. Only scattered trees were still standing, and some gaunt trunks that had been cut down. Road blazed by logging trucks Visible under a thin layer of snow.
Cutting down trees is routine in commercial forests, but this is Banff, Canada’s most famous national park. clear-cut flag That was once unthinkable for this green gem in the Canadian Rockies, where long-standing policy has been to rigorously suppress every fire and protect every tree.
But faced with the growing threat of wildfires, national park managers are increasingly turning to loggers to create firebreaks: buffer zones that prevent forest fires from spreading to other parts of the park and nearby towns.
“If you have a highly intense, fast-moving wildfire, it’s going to create a lot of problems,” said David Tavernini, a fire and vegetation expert with Parks Canada, the federal agency that manages national parks, as he set foot in the cleared forest. Fire managers offer choices.
Canada is still experiencing last year’s worst wildfire season on record and is now facing the rapid start of a new wildfire season. So-called “zombie fires” that smolder beneath the snow-covered ground during the winter have suddenly erupted, forcing thousands to flee affected towns in Western Canada.
After enduring the warmest winter in Canadian history, communities near forests are bracing for another harsh wildfire season and bracing for a future that will become increasingly vulnerable to wildfires due to climate change.
Long-term planned measures to prevent wildfires, such as firefighters in Banff Park, Alta., and other projects in the town of Banff have taken on a greater sense of urgency.
Last year, more than a dozen fires broke out in Banff and two adjacent national parks, most of them started by lightning, including three near the new fire station. They were quickly extinguished.
But Katherine Severson, director of emergency services for the town of Banff, said the impact of last year’s record wildfire season across Alberta was “enormous.”
The number of fires in sparsely populated areas of Canada is increasing, affecting not only nearby communities but also communities far away, sending thick smoke into southern Canada and the United States.
“It’s normal now – every day, towns and cities are deciding whether they can hold outdoor events because of the smoke,” Ms. Severson said.
Wildfires burned 18.5 million hectares (46 million acres) of land in Canada last year, more than double the previous record set 20 years ago, and sent smoke as far away as Europe. Fires are spreading uncontrollably across the country, not only in the western provinces accustomed to fires, but also in Quebec and the Maritimes, where fires of this magnitude are rare.
Much of Alberta is facing drought this spring. In the Rockies, snowpack is “exceptionally low,” said John Pomeroy, a hydrologist near Banff and director of the Global Water Future Project.
“Being this time of year, things are looking worse than they were last year,” Mr. Pomeroy said. “But I can qualify that by saying a lot of things could change. Last year, we also had record high temperatures and a lack of rainfall.
Michael Flannigan, a fire management expert at Thompson Rivers University in British Columbia, said extreme heat and unusual weather patterns created the conditions for last year’s record-breaking wildfire season.
“Last year was a real anomaly,” Mr. Flannigan said. “So statistically it’s unlikely that you’re going to get another outlier.”
Still, wildfire firefighting agencies across the country traditionally hired personnel only during the fire season, including college students working summer jobs, but as the fire season lengthened, they began hiring professionals year-round, Mr. Flannigan said.
In British Columbia, Mr. Flannigan said some “winter zombie fires” were so large that firefighters were unable to extinguish surrounding fires, and they are now actively burning.
“Last year’s fire season ended so late that they didn’t have time to do as much cleanup,” he said.
In northern Alberta, the Beaver Lake Cree Nation Reserve is one of many communities increasing firefighting capabilities to combat the growing threat of wildfires. Fire Chief and Emergency Services Director Shane Bair said the fire agency currently has 20 volunteers, up from seven last year.
Last year, a man-made fire broke out at a ranch in the reserve, burning 157 acres and affecting homes within half a kilometer, or 540 yards. Bell said residents of 23 homes were evacuated as firefighters battled to contain the blaze amid strong winds and extremely dry conditions.
To reduce the risk of a repeat, Mr Bell’s team has carried out four controlled burns in the reserve this year to remove potentially flammable grass from large open areas.
“It hasn’t burned in several years, so we really want to finish that part,” he said. “We consider this to be a high-risk, high-traffic area.”
He said the community had hoped to conduct more controlled burns but was limited by a mild winter. The snow melts quickly and the ground absorbs a small amount of water.
“Typically, we want to do the burns when there’s still snow on the ground, so our windows are small,” Mr. Bell said.
In the town of Banff, officials cut down trees in forested areas on the edge of the community to make them less dense and less flammable. Fire Chief Russ Geyer said embers from a spreading fire can travel up to 2 kilometers (1.2 miles) in the air, sparking fires in water areas.
Firefighters must protect residents and visitors to the town of Banff, whose population could swell from 9,000 to 40,000 people on summer weekends.
With majestic mountains, turquoise lakes, glaciers and abundant wildlife, Banff National Park is by far Canada’s most popular national park, attracting more than 4 million visitors from around the world every year.
In the town of Banff, fire officials are encouraging homeowners to make their homes safer by trimming low-hanging branches on conifer trees, installing sprinklers and upgrading wooden roofs with fire-resistant materials, Mr. Gale said. before implementation in the year.
“We started slowly and people thought this was something we were doing but it wasn’t that urgent,” Mr. Gaye said.
In recent years, there has also been a rethinking of how forest fire protection is managed.
Established in 1885, Banff National Park is Canada’s oldest national park, and until 1983, officials maintained a strict fire suppression policy rather than taking significant steps to prevent or manage fires.
The result now is dense forests dominated by conifers, which are extremely flammable.
Mr. Tavernini, a fire and vegetation specialist with Parks Canada, said historic photos of the area before the park was established show a greater variety of trees and more open space. He said lightning and controlled burning by local indigenous people often thinned the forest.
In recent years, park officials have conducted controlled burns. But perhaps nothing is bigger and more visually striking than the 81-acre fire station completed last year on a major road in Banff Park.
This winter, a larger fire station was built in adjacent Yoho National Park. A third project, located near Lake Louise, one of Banff’s most popular attractions, is expected to launch later this year.
A logging company was hired to cut down trees at the first two sites to implement the projects in exchange for timber. Parks Canada also generated a total of $80,000 from the sale of harvested timber from two fire stations, said Shelly Tamelin, Parks Canada’s wildfire risk reduction program manager.
Fire-resistant panels clear flammable conifers and are designed to prevent fires from spreading beyond them. They also provide staging areas for firefighters who can directly attack fires by drawing water from nearby ponds.
At the same time, park officials recognized the need to proceed cautiously with logging in treasured national parks.
“We’re trying to select areas,” Ms. Tamerlin said, “where we have to cut down the fewest trees to create the most open space.”
