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...

For the first time in decades, Yellowhead has a real race on its hands Pundits and prognosticators are all saying it: this federal election is the most important in Canadians’ lifetime. With relations with our southern neighbour hitting lows not seen since 1812 and pressing questions about how the c...

A group of Alberta energy executives has cancelled their corporate retreat in Jasper because they’re mad that the municipality’s mayor wants federal politicians to make climate change a priority. What other conclusion could anyone take away from reading an April 15 letter from the Mullen Group , a t...

This piece was originally published in the February issue of The Tomato Food and Drink magazine Nine months after wildfire devastated Jasper, 86-ing at least a dozen well-loved cafés and restaurants in a town that loves to dine, the service industry is rising up again. It’s not quite cork-popping ti...

Last week, while checking some of his trail cameras near Canmore’s Gap Lake, conservationist and wildlife photographer John E. Marriott came upon a cougar kill. Marriott thought it was his lucky day: a big horned sheep carcass meant the elusive cats were likely nearby, and paw prints surrounding the...

It’s been six months since Jasper was evacuated due to the threat of a massive wildfire roaring down the Athabasca Valley. On Friday, January 24, it will be exactly six months since thousands of Jasperites learned that their homes, businesses and everything in them burnt to the ground . And on Satur...

Is Alberta’s Minister of Forestry and Parks camouflaging the hunting of “problem” grizzly bears as a wildlife safety measure? Back in June, Minister Todd Loewen, a renowned big game hunter and shareholder in a Valleyview-based outfitting business, signed a ministerial order that, to this retired bio...

Record dryness, extreme heat, high winds, and a lightning storm. This summer in Jasper National Park, all of the ingredients of a recipe for disaster were in place. Now, two and a half months after that disaster came to pass, another set of circumstances— misinformation, toxic politics and facts-sta...

My husband and I had just returned to Jasper, one week after the official date of return. At our end of town, there is no avoiding the damage caused by the inferno. We had seen the images, of course, but viewing the damage in person was overwhelming. It was sensory overload, and we knew it would tak...

It’s been nine days since the largest wildfire in Jasper National Park’s recorded history started by lightning in extreme conditions. It’s been exactly a week since that fire blew up into an unstoppable inferno and 4,700 residents and another 20,000 or so visitors were forced to flee , in the middle...