Jasper Jr/Sr High School is within the top 13th percentile of Alberta secondary schools in terms of academic performance, according to a recent report. The Fraser Institute’s Report Card of Alberta High Schools 2025 ranked JJSHS 38th out of 293 high schools in the province. The report came out Septe...

Anti-separatist petition needs 294,000 signatures before Oct 28 Two Jasperites have taken up the torch with the Forever Canadian campaign. Val Young and Janet Frechette have been soliciting Albertans for signatures on a petition to keep Alberta in Canada. On Wednesday they set up a table outside of ...

Teachers trying to reach a collective agreement before October 6 are calling out the provincial government’s complaint to the Alberta labour board as a frivolous stall tactic. Yesterday, Alberta Teachers Association (ATA) president Jason Schilling addressed a September 15 complaint filed by the prov...

After months of lobbying three different governments for reimbursed costs incurred while hosting Jasper wildfire evacuees, the Village of Valemount and nine Valemount businesses have had their voices heard. In August, the Village received $302,585.60, disbursed by the Alberta Government via the Muni...

Zucchini, that Zeppelin wanna-be in your garden, can be utilized in a rich range of recipes I’ve spent some time in Rossland, B.C. After gold was discovered on Red Mountain in 1887, the ‘Golden City’ was the heart of a significant boom. Rossland gardens produce their own mother lode. With each Koote...

The Municipality of Jasper has received the Disaster Recovery Institute Canada’s (DRI Canada) Award of Excellence. The honours were bestowed on the municipality for its courageous response to the July 2024 Jasper wildfire, the largest in more than 100 years in Jasper National Park. Jasper Wildfire C...

Long-serving Jasper school trustee Dale Karpluk will not run for re-election in October. Karpluk, who was first elected in 2017 and who for the last four years has sat as chairperson on the Grande Yellowhead Public School Division board, said she is ready to pass the torch to another community-minde...

Teachers will walk off the job October 6 unless they can come to contract terms with the provincial government. On Wedensday, September 10, Alberta Teachers Association (ATA) president Jason Schilling said 51,000 full and part-time teachers will take strike action if a deal isn’t reached between the...

Visitors to the Columbia Icefields have a new way to step into the world of glaciers. An interactive art installation featuring landscape photography, exhibiting at the Discovery Centre’s Glacier Gallery , raises awareness about climate change and helps inspires individuals into personal action. "Tu...

The 2025 Jasper Folk Music Festival marched into town on Friday, September 5. The two day festival was a weekend of whimsy and well-deserved respite for a community rebuilding after the July 2024 wildfire. The Jasper Local has this photographic report : Totally tubular: On Friday, September 5, the c...

He passed us, not a care in the world as if he were strolling on a tropical beach. He wore running shoes and just a pair of shorts. It was hot, boiling hot as it can be on a glacier with the sun blasting down. The four of us, roped and on the way down, were not in beachwear; we had crampons on and w...

Residents displaced by the 2024 wildfire can still participate in this October’s municipal election. And with voting booths opening in less than two months, the Municipality of Jasper is helping ensure those who resided in Jasper on July 22, 2024, and who intend to return to the community, have all ...

A gardener and a publisher walk into a Farmers’ Market I sow seeds in potting soil. When we were chatting at the market, Jasper Local publisher Andrea Ziegler sowed a seed in my ear, “You should put your gardening tips in writing.” That seed has sprouted. I love growing and foraging for food. And I ...

Mark Hall’s reaction to my article on the newly legalized practice of hunting bears with dogs started with the statement that it ‘relies on emotional rhetoric, selective science, and mischaracterizations that deserve clarification’. I would like to address each of his criticisms in turn. Mark Hall: ...

Make room for mushrooms this September 26-28 in B.C.’s fertile Robson Valley. The Robson Valley Mushroom Festival , spore-headed by longtime Jasperite and recent Robson Valley transplant, Terry Winkler, is returning to Dunster to showcase the magical world of mushrooms. Fun guy Terry Winkler spreadi...

A team of cyclists riding from Alberta’s southern border to where the province meets the Northwest Territories passed through Jasper on Tuesday, August 26. Five riders are endeavouring to complete an 1,800 km ride in just one week, a never-done-before two-wheeled push in the name of Alberta’s search...

A father and son’s five-year journey to summit mighty Mount Robson From a distance, Mount Robson looks like something painted onto the horizon. Mount Robson looms large from the Yellowhead Highway. // Creative Commons Its glaciated ridges and sheer cliffs dwarf everything around it. At 3,954 metres,...

The recent opinion piece published in The Jasper Local raises concerns about the ethics, effectiveness, and motivations behind Alberta’s decision to permit hound-assisted black bear hunting in Caribou Conservation Areas (CCAs).  While the author’s passion for wildlife is commendable, the article unf...

In July, Todd Loewen, the Minister for Alberta’s Forestry and Parks, quietly updated provincial regulations to allow the use of dogs while hunting black bears. His rationale? To help protect endangered woodland caribou populations, because black bears prey on newborn caribou calves. Hunter gatherer ...

Part 3: Seeing the forest floor through the trees In  Part 1 of our Walking Through Fire series , we discussed how post-fire vegetation bounces back. In Part 2 we looked at animals' attraction to fire . But what did the fire uncover about the landscape itself? The Jasper 2024 fire exposed an epic st...