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| Sunset (photo by V.A. McMillan) |
Jasper 2024 Wildfire AAR Released & a Recovery Idea for Jasper
25 July 2025
Well folks, it has been too long since my last post. With the recent release of the after-action report (AAR) for the 2024 Jasper Wildfire and a trip through Jasper earlier this month...I have an idea!!
First, the AAR has been released and it is worth reading by citizens and emergency management folks. The release I saw online started with with this letter:
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| Letter from Jasper, page 1 |
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| Letter from Jasper, page 2 |
(Remember to click on images to see a larger version.)
And I followed a couple of links:
1) https://jasper-alberta.ca/p/plans-and-reports-
2) https://jasper.municipalAAR 2024 WildfireFY68y8.pdf
Then I downloaded and read the AAR. I encourage you to do the same. Some insightful tidbits in there.
The Idea:
This idea will be totally counter-intuitive for most Parks Canada folks. It will be total heresy for tree hugging Greenpeace types. HOWEVER, post disaster windows of opportunity close quickly and I cannot hold this idea without sharing, as I have no means to action this.
Right now there are over 30,000 hectares of standing deadwood in the Jasper area which are the immediate result of the July 2024 wildfire that ravaged the community and national park. These standing dead trees pose two significant risks to the forest, the community, the park, and the public. First, this wood is dead and has the potential to burn again in another wildfire. Second, if these trees are left standing, they will eventually become a falling hazard when the root systems can no longer support the tree trunks blowing in the wind. That is our problem statement.
Caveat. I am not making this suggestion lightly. To be done correctly attention to detail will determine complete success and lack of attention will result in failure somewhere along the continuum of failure...likely total, utter failure.
The opportunity. There are currently tens of thousands of dead, standing, dried pine trees in the burn scar. There is a very narrow window to action this. Using the best low-ground pressure equipment, and the very best harvesting techniques, and the very best conservation techniques; the standing dead timbers should be harvested this winter (Winter 2025-2026). These timbers should be harvested for the specific use to build log structure buildings, lodges, cabins, and homes. The harvested timbers that are not used to re-build structures in Jasper or Jasper National Park should be auctioned off to log home builders across Canada. The log structures built or rebuilt in Jasper or the Park should be identified as re-using trees killed by the 2024 Wildfire. The logs actioned off should generate a few hundred million dollars, maybe a bit more. Log home builders rarely ever get access to a supply of logs as good as the ones in Jasper National Park. They would NEVER be able to access them under normal conditions. And that is as it should be. However, within any tragedy is an opportunity, if it can be seized and actioned before the window closes.
Now, what will not be acceptable is for some multinational logging corporation to decimate the Park conducting the harvest. That will not happen, if my idea is followed. This harvest requires extreme coordination and planning. The use of low-ground pressure machines is a MUST. Destroying the forest floor is not the intent. The felling is likely going to need human fallers/chainsaw operators not feller-buncher machines...most of these trees are too big. Once these trees are on the ground they need to be processed in place - delimbed, and debarked. The limbs and bark needs to be mulched and returned to the forest floor where it originated, to nourish the seedlings that will be planted the year after the harvest. This harvest will require the skills of a few/many small scale specialist companies with experienced machine operators. This is not a project that makes one company billions in profit. This is about many companies making a good profit removing dead timber from a national park, but in a way that does the least amount of damage to park or the forest. Attention also must be paid to how the logs after being processed get from the forest to the nearest road for transport to a staging area or final location. The skid trails must NOT create erosion channels that will further compromise the forest duff layer. Meaning horizontal trails to roads will be preferred to vertical roads. Yes, exactly, that means this will be an expensive harvest technique. One of the reasons for making this a winter harvest is hopefully the ground will be frozen and skidding logs will not impact the duff layer or the soil of the forest floor.
Why would we harvest trees, even dead trees from a national park??? Well, as alluded to earlier by leaving these trees standing they endanger everyone and everything around them until they fall to the ground naturally...even once on the ground in a snarled mess, they will still represent a considerable wildfire fuel load for years to come. It will take at least 25-years for a forest to return. So, lets do a clean harvest. Build some magnificent log structures in Jasper and Jasper National Park. Selloff excess logs to log home builders to build even more magnificent homes and buildings. And make some lasting legacies from the 2024 Jasper Wildfire.
I do not have personal contacts in the Municipality of Jasper, the Government of Alberta, or at Parks Canada. I have no idea if any MLA or MP will ever hear about this idea. Will the Mayor of Jasper?? The Superintendent of Jasper National Park?? I hope by posting this blog post somehow and someway the right people will hear about this idea and make it happen.
The disaster window of opportunity is closing...three and maybe four years and the standing timber will have no commercial or structural value...then, it is just another hazard in the forest of a national park.
Until next time...see something, say something...At least you did your part of the solution!!
Mountainman.
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